1. home and garden
2. home furnishings
3. lamps and lighting

/03
Revista de
História
da Arte
COLLECTING
THROUGH
CONNECTIONS
GLASS AND STAINED‑GLASS
COLLECTORS AND THEIR
TH
NETWORKS IN THE 19 CENTURY
magazine direction (IHA/FCSH/UNL)
Raquel Henriques da Silva
Joana Cunha Leal
Pedro Flor
Publisher
Instituto de História da Arte
Scientific Committe (RHA Série w — 03)
Susan Crane University of Arizona, USA
Uwe Gast Corpus Vitrearum Deutschland, Freiburg, Germany
Sven Hauschke Der Veste Coburg, Corburg, Germany
Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk Museum Kunstpalast,
Glasmuseum Hentrich, Düsseldorf, Germany
Teresa Medici DHAA/Faculdade de Letras/Universidade de
Coimbra and VICARTE, Lisbon, Portugal
António Nunes Pereira PSML/National Palace of Pena, Sintra,
Portugal
Márcia Vilarigues Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia/UNL and
VICARTE, Lisbon, Portugal
Paul Williamson Victoria & Albert Museum, London, United
Kingdom
Organizing Committee (RHA Série w — 03)
Bruno A Martinho Parques de Sintra — Monte da Lua, SA /
National Palace of Pena, Sintra / CHAM, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais
e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Universidade dos Açores
Alexandra Rodrigues VICARTE and Ph.D. fellow, Dep.
Conservation and Restoration, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia/
UNL, Lisbon, Portugal
António Nunes Pereira Parques de Sintra — Monte da Lua, SA /
National Palace of Pena, Sintra, Portugal
Márcia Vilarigues Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia/UNL and
VICARTE, Lisbon, Portugal
coordinators
Márcia Vilarigues e Bruno A Martinho
translation
Alexandra Rodrigues
Authors
Daniel Hess | Suzanne Higgott | Márcia Vilarigues
Anne-Laure Carré | Paola Cordera
Caroline Blondeau-Morizot | Ann Glasscock
Bruno A Martinho | Ulrike Müller | Daniel Parello
Alexandra Rodrigues | Jayme Yahr | Yao‑Fen You
Reviewers
Susan Crane | Uwe Gast | Sven Hauschke
Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk
António Pires de Matos | Teresa Medici
António Nunes Pereira | Márcia Vilarigues
Design
José Domingues (Undo)
Cover
Julius Eugen Rühl (ca. 1855),
Project for the Stag Room,
Palácio Nacional da Pena, Sintra,
Acc. No. PNP387
3
4
5
editorial
interview
dossier
António Ressano Garcia
Lamas
Professor Doutor António
Lamas
editorial
The stained glass collection of King D. Fernando II
F
erdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha came to Portugal
in 1836 to marry the Portuguese Queen Maria II, and
took the title of King D. Fernando II after the birth of their
first son. From a German princely house from which, in the
19thcentury, several European royal marriages issued, he
received a careful education and was throughout his life an
art collector and a keen patron of the arts and of heritage
conservation.
Among other interests he added to an inherited collection
of stained glass panels from diverse origins, periods ant
themes that he applied to decorate windows and interior
doors in a “patchwork” common at the time. The ones
he used at the windows of the Great Hall of his master
achievement — the Palace of Pena, in Sintra — have always
been admired. Less known is the similar set of panels
inserted in the windows and doors of a dining room at his
Lisbon residence, the Palace of Necessidades, which were
taken down in 1916 when that Palace was adapted to house
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and transported to Pena in
1949.
When Parques de Sintra, a state owned company that
manages the state properties in the Cultural Landscape
of Sintra, a World Heritage site near Lisbon, became
responsible for the Palace of Pena in 2007, I was surprised to
find, stored in a poor state of conservation, the stained glass
panels from Necessidades. Probably with the exception of
those working in the Palace, these panels were only known
to a very few persons but their interest was immediately
obvious. Stained glass is rare in Portuguese tradition,
monuments and collections.
Their restoration was the purpose of a protocol signed
with the Department of Conservation and Restoration of the
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and the resulting exhibition
at Pena has added to the many interests of this most
extraordinary Romantic building, which is the second most
visited monument in Portugal. The study of the different
panels and their origin should follow.
Being the custodian of his “beloved Pena”, for which
he his better known, it is the duty of Parques de Sintra to
preserve it for future generations and to stimulate research
on the life and achievements of D. Fernando II, in particular
on his artistic interests and collections and his contributions
towards the restoration of Portuguese monuments. Besides
the study of the furniture and works of art existing at Pena
and the revision of their presentation, several projects, one
of which is the study of his glass collections, are under way.
Since he also produced a vast graphic work (drawings and
prints), Parques de Sintra has been collecting and restoring
major examples, aiming at another exhibition and the
shedding of more light on this fascinating King consort.
A n t ó n i o R e ss a n o G a r c i a L a m a s
CEO of Parques de Sintra — Monte da Lua SA
(2006 — November 2014)
interview
Professor Doutor António Lamas
The interview will be released on the 1st of April 2015
dossier
why
collect?
what to
assemble?
how to
display?
who
gathers?
where to
collect?
which
provenance?
7
29
59
107
119
144
Romantic
atmosphere and
the invocation
of the past:
Motifs and
functions of
early...
Neueberstein
Castle and
ist Collection
of Stained
Glass
Stained Glass
and the (Re‑)
Creation of an
Ideal Past.
COLLECTING
AMERICAN GLASS
Louis Comfort
Tiffany and the
Gilder Circle in
19th‑century
New York
SALES, STATUS,
SHOPS AND
SWAPS
FROM THE
CATHEDRAL TO
THE COLLECTOR
Daniel Parello
The Mayer van den
Bergh Collection
in Antwerp...
Ulrike Müller
Daniel Hess
AN OVERVIEW
OF WAYS OF
COLLECTING GLASS...
THE JOURNEY
OF A MEDIEVAL
STAINED GLASS...
Suzanne Higgott
Caroline
Blondeau‑Morizot
Jayme Yahr, Ph.D.
21
45
76
131
152
The Stained
Glass
collection of
King Ferdinand
II of Portugal
— Assembling...
JAMES JACKSON
JARVES:
COLLECTING
VENETIAN GLASS
FOR AMERICA
The
Assemblage of
a Distinct Glass
Collection
A collection
for education
NEW
OBSERVATIONS
CONCERNING THE
STOKE POGES
WINDOWS
Márcia Vilarigues et al.
Ann Marie Glasscock
The creation and
display...
Alexandra Rodrigues
and Bruno A Martinho
94
FORGING THE
RENAISSANCE
ON THE USE OF
GLASS PIECES
IN SPITZER’S
(IN)FAMOUS
COLLECTION
Paola Cordera
The glass
collection of
the musée du
Conservatoire des
arts et métiers...
Anne‑Laure Carré
Yao‑Fen You
why
collect?
Romantic
atmosphere and
the invocation
of the past
Motifs and functions
of early stained glass
collections around 1800
ABSTRACt
Resumo
The article analyses the motifs of early stained glass collectors
in Europe and the functions of their collections in the context
of cultural history and neo-gothic architectural settings. The
most important stained glass collections as in the Gothic House
in Wörlitz or the Franzensburg in Laxenburg near Vienna, in
the Löwenburg in Kassel or in the castle of Erbach were first
and foremost used for the decoration of neo-Gothic buildings
and collection halls. The colourful, faint light conveyed the
atmosphere of an utmost effective mise-en-scène of venerable
history. But the function of these early stained glass collections
was not limited to a romantic staffage of the English Garden,
they were above all patriotic-dynastic monuments. Noble families
thereby tried to compensate their privileges lost in the wake of
the Napoleonic reorganization of Europe and to manifest their
cultural leadership.
O artigo analisa os motivos dos primeiros colecionadores de
vitrais na Europa e as funções das suas coleções no contexto
da história cultural e configurações arquitetónicas neogóticas.
As coleções de vitrais mais importantes, como na Casa Gótica
em Wörlitz ou em Franzensburg em Laxenburg, perto de Viena,
em Löwenburg, em Kassel, ou no castelo de Erbach, foram, em
primeiro lugar e sobretudo, utilizadas para a decoração dos
edifícios neogóticos e salões destinados às coleções. A luz fraca
e colorida transmitia à atmosfera uma eficaz mise-en-scène de
história venerável. Mas a função destas primeiras coleções de
vitrais não se limitou a um staffage Romântico do Jardim Inglês,
elas foram acima de tudo monumentos patriótico-dinásticos.
As famílias nobres tentaram assim compensar os seus privilégios
perdidos na sequência da reorganização napoleónica da Europa
e manifestar a sua liderança cultural.
Keywords
Neo-Gothic | Goethe | patriotic monuments
| Wörtlitz | Laxenburg | Löwenburg
Palavras-Chave
Neogótico | Goethe | Monumentos patrióticos
| Wörtlitz | Laxenburg | Löwenburg
D a n i e l H e ss
Germanisches Nationalmuseum,
Nuremberg, Germany
RHA 03 8 DOSSIER Romantic atmosphere and the invocation of the past...
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A
short glimpse of the stained‑glass collection in the
famous Romantic monument of the Pena National
Palace in Sintra reveals an obvious diversity: Apart from a
donor’s panel from the monastery of Seligenthal dating from
around 1314/1320, a few excellent Swiss and South German
panels dating from the 15th and early 16th century catch the
eye. 1 Beer panels and similar small pieces were used for
the framing of the windows, which were equipped with
historical fragments. What kind of concept stands behind
this collection? What were the historical and representative
purposes? Were the glass‑paintings only decoration? Does
exclusively the donor’s panel in the chapel of the palace
created by the glass painter Kellner in Nuremberg in 1840/141
refer to the donor and founder of the Palácia da Pena, the
Portuguese King Ferdinand II?
All these questions could only be answered in a direct
analysis of the originals in situ and the written sources
relating to the collection. As this is not possible for me,
I will focus on the question for the ideals the collection of
Sintra followed and search for the motifs and ambitions why
old stained glass paintings were collected in Europe from
1780. By doing so, I very much hope to contribute some
new aspects for putting the historical collection of the Pena
Palace into its art‑historical context.
The collection of the Dukes of Saxony‑Coburg and Gotha
Ferdinand‘s passion to collect stained glass painting
reaches back to the German‑speaking countries and is at
the same time due to his descent from the ancient lineage
of the Dukes of Saxony‑Coburg‑Gotha, and first to the
Veste Coburg, a family estate since 1353. Under Duke
Ernst I of Saxony‑Coburg‑Saalfeld (1784‑1844), Duke of
Saxony‑Coburg and Gotha since 1826, the Duke’s building
was historically redesigned according to the plans of the
architect, theoretician and decorator Carl Alexander von
Heideloff (1789‑1865). 2 In 1838 and 1840, for the first time
stained glass‑paintings serving as window decoration were
mentioned. Luther`s room and the room of the roses, used
as a dining room, as well as the stairwell were equipped
with stained glass‑paintings as window decorations. These
were obviously small panels and roundels found in Coburg
around 1840 used as historical decoration. The essential
parts of this collection originate from the collection of
Duke Ernst II of Saxony‑Gotha‑Altenburg in Gotha, who in
1791 acquired about 200 stained‑glass‑paintings from the
collection of Paul Carl Welser in Nuremberg. 3 In addition also
commissioned contemporary works from the Nuremberg
stained‑glass painter’s workshop Kellner were used.
Unfortunately, no further sources of documents or pictures
about the collection in Coburg are available: at present, the
only helpful information is contained in the guide to the
Veste Coburg published in 1843, where the inventory and the
locations mentioned‑above are registered.
From 1826 the castle of Callenberg, the summer residence
of the Dukes, was also redesigned and furnished in the
neo‑Gothic style. 4 Not less than 224 small panels and
roundels collected by Duke Ernst II were integrated into
the windows of the redesigned castle chapel in 1845. 5 In
the 1980s they were removed for conservation reasons. In
1845, the historical artefacts were integrated into clear glass
structured in rhombus shape. The central window designed
and executed by the architect Karl Görgel (1809‑1846) also
1 For the translation of this text I have to
thank Anette Kaufmann, Germanisches
Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg.
The author had the opportunity to see these
windows during the Encontro internacional
de vitral in Batalha in 1995 and made a first
attempt of a historical classification in a
manuscript for the collection in Sintra.
On the history and restauration of Veste
Coburg see Schwarz 2003, and on the
stained‑glass paintings Jeutter and Cleef‑Roth
2003, 14‑15, 20‑35.
2 Most of these stained glass paintings
were mentioned by Georg Rathgeber in his
description of the painting‑gallery in Gotha in
1835. I would like to thank Uwe Gast, Freiburg,
and Klaus Weschenfelder, Coburg, for their
information.
3 See Arnold, Astrid 2002.
4 This collection is revealed by Eutter/
Cleef‑Roth 2003.
5 9 DOSSIER
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Fig. 1 Design for a choir window in
the chapel of Callenberg. Carl Görgel,
1844. Coburg, Schloss Callenberg,
Sammlung Herzoglicher Kunstbesitz,
Inv. Nr. 127
© Reproduction after Jeutter and
Cleef-Roth 2003, 26
contained historical pieces which were integrated into a
coloured tabernacle design in Gothic style [fig. 1]. Görgel
also passed on a sketch to Earl Eberhard von Erbach‑Erbach,
in order to receive useful information about glass painters
from the Odenwald who might execute the work at low
costs. We will come back to the stained‑glass collection in
Erbach later. In addition to historical stained‑glass paintings,
the collection of Callenberg castle also included „modern“
pieces such as a small panel dating from 1805 by Michael
Sigmund Frank. 6
As many German princes and sovereigns did at that
times, also the Dukes of Saxony‑Coburg‑Saalfeld and
Gotha gave their residences after the end of the Ancien
Regime a new character by laying out English landscape
parks, redesigning and extending the summer castles
of Rosenau — with a small collection of stained glass
paintings in some of the tracery windows — and Callenberg
as well as the Veste Coburg in a new‑Gothic style. After
the turmoil in Napoleonic times and in the course of the
reorganization of Europe, the old principles of monarchies
and sovereigns were to be strengthened and legitimated.
Medieval buildings and antiquities epitomized the historical
continuity desired. Stained‑glass paintings were not only
important for conveying a romantic mood, they were also
important antiquities to document long family traditions and
sovereignty of the ancestors.
ibid Cat. No. 187.
6 RHA 03 10 DOSSIER Romantic atmosphere and the invocation of the past...
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The Gothic House in Wörlitz and the Franzensburg
in Laxenburg
In the late 18th century, the influence of the neo‑Gothic
and romantic style predominant in England also grew on
the Continent. First, this style influenced German garden
buildings following the English model, later the Gothic
Revival culminated in the completion of the Cologne
Cathedral thus establishing a specific German National
style. 7 Apart from architects and garden theorists such
as Christian Gay Laurenz Hirschfeld (1742‑1792) poets
like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe contributed to this
development. Goethe was completely overhelmed by the
sight of the Gothic cathedral during his stay in Strasbourg
and summarized his impressions 1772 in an essay with the
programmatic title “About German Architecture”.
When the first neo‑Gothic buildings as the Gothic House
in Wörlitz and the Löwenburg in Kassel were constructed,
medieval art objects were increasingly collected for the
furnishing of these buildings in the new „patriotic style“.
Stained‑glass painting played a decisive role for the interior
of such buildings, as they provided “a mystical light” very
much appreciated at that time. This is evidenced in several
texts of Goethe who possessed a small, almost unknown
collection of stained‑glass himself. During his Swiss journey
in 1797, Goethe repeatedly mentioned stained‑glass painting
focusing especially on the aspect of painting techniques and
glass as a material. 8 In his later work stained‑glass painting is
mentioned in his poem „Poems are painted window panes“
and in his short characterization of a small decorative chapel
of the canon Pick in Bonn. The description of a park chapel
in his novel „Elective Affinities“ written in 1809 is of particular
importance. 9 An element of the English garden described
there is a chapel serving the culture of commemoration, in
which the artistic arrangement outshines the function of
the building. Even the tombstones in front of the chapel
are subject to a beautiful and dignified order annoying the
parishioners as nobody knew where the corresponding
bodies were exactly buried. The chapel built “in old German
style and in good proportion” was restored in the „original
spirit“. After its completion the chapel offers a serious
sight: „A solemn, colourful light streamed through the one
tall window. It was filled with stained glass gracefully put
together. The entire chapel had thus received a strange
tone and a peculiar genius was thrown over it“. Among
the ecclesiastical antiquities some chancel stairs were
discovered, which now were artistically arranged along the
walls serving as resting places. The historical remains are
subjected to a new order and awarded a new function.
The Dessau‑Wörlitz Garden Realm, also known as the English
Grounds of Wörlitz, built by Prince Leopold Friedrich Franz
von Anhalt‑Dessau (1758‑1817), which Goethe visited several
times, served as a model for his description of the romantic
park. The Gothic house always has been a particular
ornament in the park in Wörlitz [fig. 2]; it contains the oldest
and most important collection of stained‑glass paintings in
the German language area. 10 The priest and scholar Johann
Caspar Lavater (1741‑1802) of Zurich, admired by the young
Goethe, essentially contributed to this collection by sending
many old stained‑glass paintings from Switzerland to Prince
Franz from the 1780s. These paintings were integrated into
the large tracery windows of the Gothic House, which served
as the Prince’s private refuge. The princely friend and cabinet
See Germann 1974, 77‑91.
7 Goethe, Münchner Edition volume. 4.2,
München 1986, 667‑669, 688‑690, 711.
8 On the poem „Gedichte sind gemalte
Fensterscheiben“ see Munich edition, volume
13.1, Munich 1992, 180, chapel of canon Pick
ibid, volume 11.2, Munich 1994, p. 22, on
Elective Affinities ibid, volume 9, Munich 1987,
415 (part 2, in particular chapter 1 and chapter
3).
9 10
See Ruoss and Giesicke 2012.
RHA 03 11 DOSSIER Romantic atmosphere and the invocation of the past...
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Fig. 2 Wörlitz, Gothic House, the Warfare
Cabinet, state in 1994
© Corpus Vitrearum Deutschland, Freiburg
i. Br. (Rüdiger Tonojan)
RHA 03 12 DOSSIER Romantic atmosphere and the invocation of the past...
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councillor, August von Rode, gave the following description
in 1818: Franz built the Gothic House and gathered everything
that could help to lift his spirit into the former world.
Therefore, not only the portraits of his ancestors, ... but
preferably the lively presentation of the world of knights
and some glances at the governing religious circumstances.
Finally, so many valuable works of art of those times. 11 More
than 200 stained‑glass paintings were integrated into the
room programs: the spiritual cabinet is dedicated to themes
of the Old and New Testament, whereas in the warfare
cabinet motifs from the history of the Swiss Confederation
and the liberation wars prevail. The stained‑glass paintings
were inserted into clear glass animated by blue, yellow and
purple glass. The design of the surrounding area was limited
to borders and decorative ornamentation of the tracery
lights and did not show any painting. 12
At the end of the 18th century, in Laxenburg, a two‑hours
horse ride from Vienna, a landscape park in the English
style was built under similar conditions, and the neo‑Gothic
Franzensburg was erected as the heart of this romantic
memorial landscape. After converting the park of the castle
of Laxenburg into an English landscape garden, from 1792 to
1806 Franz II, the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire,
who from 1804 to 1835 reigned as Franz I, first emperor
of Austria, decided about Laxenburg’s destiny. From 1789
the Franzensburg built on an island of an artificial lake
was financed from the private imperial funds. It is a big
and picturesque summer house which looks like a Gothic
castle. Neo‑Gothic architecture, stained‑glass painting and
landscape garden interacted perfectly as they did in Wörlitz.
The Laxenburg park and the neo‑Gothic Franzensburg
constitute a further possible source of inspiration for the
realization of the interior of the Palacio da Pena in Sintra:
From 1791, the father of Ferdinand II of Portugal was active in
the Austrian army and had established a new family branch
in Vienna. The Laxenburg Park was accessible to the public
from 1799 as well as the picturesque Franzensburg after its
completion. The members of the Vienna Congress met for
festivities here and it is quite conceivable that Ferdinand II
visited this park in his younger days.
From 1798, medieval and renaissance art treasures were
collected for furnishing the Franzensburg, among them many
old stained‑glass paintings originating from Heiligenkreuz,
Maria am Gestade and several other locations. 13 Michael
Riedl, the secret paymaster and later director of Laxenburg,
conceived this collection. In one glass painting, Riedl is
impressively portrayed as the planner and creator of the
park and the castle [fig. 3]. He also commissioned the
production of new objects: For the initial furnishings the
decoration painter Johann Karl created in accordance
with the technique typical for that period new „glass
paintings“ executed in oil colours. This could, however, only
be a stopgap solution as such works were ruined within a
couple of years by weather conditions. Therefore, Gottlob
Samuel Mohn (1789‑1825), one of the leading pioneers in
glass painting, constructed in Laxenburg in 1813 a furnace
to create better stained‑glass painting for replacing the
former experimental works. 14 The correspondence with
Michael Sigmund Frank (1770‑1847), a further pioneer in the
rediscovery of glass painting, documents that also Mohn
appeared to have not been fully satisfied with the colour
pallete of his creations.
11
Quoted after Alex 1994, 69‑70.
12
See in addition Ruoss and Giesicke 2012.
See Winkler 2012, and his summarizing
paper in: Bürgler et al 1998, 60‑72.
13
14
See in addition Vaassen 1997, 62‑64.
13 DOSSIER Romantic atmosphere and the invocation of the past...
Fig. 3 Franzensburg, Neue
Vogtei, Michael Riedl with a plan
of Laxenburg and six views of
the park with the Franzensburg.
Gottlob Samuel Mohn 1825
© Author
Against this background it becomes clear that for the
furnishing of the early neo‑Gothic buildings first and
foremost historical glass paintings were used: The craftsmen
of those days were simply not yet able to produce high
quality coloured glass. Neither the intensive colourfulness
of the Medieval glass could be achieved nor a sophisticated
painting technique. Stained Glass painting was considered
to be „totally cut off from its roots and as good as lost”, as
Michael Adam Gessert expressed in 1839 in his book, one
of the first attempts of a written history of stained glass
painting. 15 This lost art was still to be rediscovered by all
means. In particular, the Nuremberg porcelain painters
around Michael Sigmund Frank (1770‑1847) intensified their
efforts from 1800 onwards. 16 As an outstanding document
from this experimental times, the glass painting of St.
Magdalena by Joseph Sauterleute in the Germanisches
Nationalmuseum must be mentioned [fig. 4]: The inscription
reflects the great ambitions of the Nuremberg porcelain
painter and tells us that this was „The third attempt to paint
on glass by J. Sauterleute in 1826“. In addition to the use
of intensive colour glass this panel shows also the painter’s
effort to achieve a differentiated painting technique by using
black and brown vitreous paint and silver stain.
Still in the same year, a national aspect was added to the
competition in rediscovering the old technique when Johann
Rudolf Wyss (1781‑1830), poet and professor in Bern, pointed
out that from no country more stained‑glass artists emerged
than from Switzerland. 17 Since „quite a while” the interest has
been growing in the „representation generally considered
to be stiff and old‑fashioned and therefore neglected, which
now only due to costumes, weapons, genealogy and under
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RHA 03 14 DOSSIER Romantic atmosphere and the invocation of the past...
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Fig. 4 Joseph Sauterleute, Mary
Magdalene. Nuremberg 1826. Germanisches
Nationalmuseum, Inv. MM 649 (permanent
loan of the City of Nuremberg)
© Germanisches Nationalmuseum
(Jürgen Musolf)
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additional circumstances” received an educational quality.
Together with the travelers streaming into the Swiss Alps
the demand for old Swiss Panels increased to such an extent
that an art trade developed. In addition to the leading
role Switzerland played for old stained‑glass paintings,
this country also became the cradle of the revived art of
stained‑glass thanks to Johann Jakob Müller (1803‑1867)
who was said to be one of the most perfect artists in this
field. Wyss also pointed to the attempts made by Michael
Sigmund Frank for the Institute of Stained‑Glass Painting
founded by Prince Ludwig von Oettingen‑Wallerstein in
1813, he attributed, however, all merits in the international
competition to Müller pointing to the greater magnificence
of colours of Müller’s works. 18 Thus stained‑glass painting
took a decisive step on its way to become the national Swiss
art heritage. 19 The international competition for the best
stained‑glass painting continued on the world exhibitions
and brought about the most ambitious exhibits such as the
minimized copy of the famous Volckamer window dating
from 1849, whose creator, the glass‑painter Stephan Keller
was awarded a prize medal on the World Exhibition in
London in 1851. 20
The Löwenburg in Kassel and the collection of the Earl
of Erbach
The Franzensburg as well as the Löwenburg in Kassel built
between 1793 and 1801, were to stage the history and
dynasty of their erectors. The Löwenburg may well have
served Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege (1777‑1855) of North
Hesse, the miner, geologist and architect of the Palacio
da Pena as a model for the collection in Sintra. Landgraf
Wilhelm IX of Hessen Kassel had commissioned the erection
of the Löwenburg and determined the artificial ruin and
romantic castle to become his private refuge and later on his
mausoleum. 21 Contrary to Wörlitz, only the lancet windows
of the chapel were equipped with stained‑glass. They had
been acquired for this purpose from churches in North Hesse
and were inserted in 1799. The chapel was not only the most
spacious but also the most richly decorated room in the
entire castle complex. 22 The stained‑glass paintings gave the
chapel the desired religious and intimate aura of a private
prayer room and mausoleum. In this chapel, the function
of the Löwenburg culminated: In its function as a patriotic
monument it served as a fictitious ancestral castle of the
house of Hessen. The collected relics of antiquity guaranteed
the demonstrated anciennity of the dynasty.
Furthermore, the interior of the Löwenburg also reflected
the first conservational efforts in collecting and preserving
monuments of arts as „patriotic evidence“. Already in 1768,
the director of the princely collection in Kassel, Rudolf
Erich Raspe (1737‑1794), initiated the foundation of a gothic
German antiquity cabinet in response to the negligent way
antiquities had been dealt with up to that time. He tried
to draw the attention of Landgraf Wilhelm IX to German
history and to encourage him to collect the relics of a
glorious past in order to make this knowledge available
for historical research and to the public. 23 His request to
exhibit works of art not simply as beautiful and curious
objects, but also as sources of history was first rejected but
left some traces, though. Three years after Friedrich II had
founded the Société des Antiquités in 1777, he enacted an
ordinance for the protection of monuments and antiquities in
15
Gessert 1839, 243.
16
17
See Vaassen 1997, 159‑162.
See Wyss 1825.
On Oettingen‑Wallerstein and Michael
Sigmund Frank see Grupp 1917, 83‑90,
Vaassen 1997, 159‑162.
18
19
See Hess 2010.
Daniel Hess, in: Jutta Zander‑Seidel/
Roland Prügel (Ed.): Wege in die Moderne.
Weltausstellungen, Medien und Musik im
19. Jahrhundert. Exh. Cat. Germanisches
Nationalmuseum Nürnberg 2014, No. 144.
20
21
See Küster 2012.
See Dittscheid 1987, 186, 188, 196; a view of
the choir with integrated glass‑paintings ibid,
fig. 374.
22
23
Dolff‑Bonekämper 1985, 18‑26, 36‑47.
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Hesse. He demanded that no monuments should suffer any
damage and that their dilapidation should be reported to the
government so that sketches could be made. In addition, the
discovery of coins and other antiquities were to be reported
to the authorities. Only the sovereign had the privilege to
collect and to disregard the conservation standards: In 1824
an official decree was issued empowering the direction of
the court to increase the amount of stained‑glass windows in
several churches. 24
Under similar circumstances, another early collection
was created: The stained‑glass collection of Earl Franz
I von Erbach‑Erbach in his ancestral seat in Odenwald. 25
With the self‑conception as a scientist and not only as an
amateur, Franz von Erbach contributed to the salvation and
preservation of the endangered medieval antiquities with his
collection of weapons, armours, stained‑glass paintings and
coins. His Limes excavations in Odenwald not only resulted
in a scientific publication of the finds, but also in the setting
up of an English Garden near Erbach where the antiquities
were integrated. For the revival of the gothic taste he had
installed a neo‑gothic knight’s hall in his classicistic castle in
1804 [fig. 5]. Shields with the coats of arms of his ancestors
adorned the vaulted ceiling thus symbolizing the love and
commitment of historical antiquities by treasuring the
family’s memoria. Medieval weapons and armours retrieved
from dissolved arsenals were installed in this hall. Medieval
stained‑glass paintings decorated the neo‑Gothic wooden
lancet windows of the room inspired by a gothic ecclestical
building: In addition to the cycle from Altenberg/Lahn and
Wimpfen dating from the late 13th century or around 1300,
the roundels from the Strasbourg workshop of Peter Hemmel
from the late 15th century have to be mentioned. The hall of
knights not only served for the revival of knighthood but
also for manifesting the anciennity of the noble family of
Erbach and to underline its significance and power over the
centuries. A comparison between the historical equipment
of the knight’s hall in Erbach and the the watercolour of the
project for the Stag Room of Pena Palace, which adorns the
poster of our conference, indicates some parallels which are
worthwhile to examine.
Antiquities creating a new family reputation
Many noblemen of his time were driven by the same
distinctive historical interest and passion to collect as Franz
von Erbach: The commitment of this generation to collect
was in the service of the memory and the protection of their
descent. The enthusiasm for local traditions and historical
evidence was even intensified as a consequence of the
revolution and the wars of liberation against Napoleon.
Collecting and analyzing relics of the past became a
movement beyond of social class. This enthusiasm did not
only have its effects on national monuments, but at the
same time resulted in the foundation of numerous antiquity
societies and museums relating to the history of civilization.
The realization and demonstration of the proper historical
and cultural basis was to safeguard the old, shattered
values and traditions of the Ancien Régime and to preserve
them for the new age. The breaking up of the political and
religious order of the Holy Roman Empire had resulted in
a profound destruction of cultural artefacts, which in the
wake of the secularization also lead to the dissipation of the
property of churches and monasteries.
24
See Parello 2008, 281‑282.
See Hess 1997, Glüber 2006, Götz‑Mohr
and Maderna 2007, Gast 2011, 109‑137.
25
Fig. 5 Schloss Erbach, Rittersaal, Eastern window front
(east wall). Watercolour by Johann W. Wendt in the
catalogue of the Erbach Collection around 1805-1807
© Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten in
Hessen, Bad Homburg
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As a consequence, the salvation and disclosure of
historical testimony based on objects, images and scripts
began on a broad basis. Such initiatives were not only
restricted to individual persons. The new historical awareness
was supported and spread in the German speaking area
from 1811, mostly in connection with collections and
museums dedicated to regional history. A strong net of local
societies for history, antiquity and regional studies, brought
archeologists, historians, dilettantes, collectors of curiosities,
burghers and noblemen together in identity‑establishing
organizations. 26 Conservative‑restoring ideas melted with
patriotic dreams of a national state. In noble collections
the interest in local history and conservation served to
maintain the family memory and their prestige in politically
and socially insecure times. The nobility tried to invoke the
memory of its former political and cultural importance and
to safeguard the glorified values of their status and transfer
them to the civil society by recollecting the Middle Ages.
Against this background, the historical interest and passion
of Hans von Aufseß, the founder of the Germanisches
Nationalmuseum, has to be seen, whose family like the
entire nobility of the empire had lost its old privileges and
territories. 27 Within short time, he gathered from the objects
acquired during the age of secularization from church and
monastery estates a remarkable collection of »traditional
German antiquities«, forming the basis for his later museum.
Stained‑glass paintings played an important role and became
the starting point of one of the greatest museum collections in
the German speaking area. 28 First, Aufseß followed the plan to
publish an all‑German historical magazine. With his »Anzeiger
für Kunde des deutschen Mittelalters« he intended to unite all
lovers of art and history, who were to establish later under the
protection of the German Federation a museum of German art
and history. 29 In view of the strong regional interest and the
heterogeneous structure of the different associations, where
often »dilettantism« governed, the desire for a nationwide
union and a stronger scientific approach emerged. 30 In
autumn 1832, Aufseß moved with his collections to Nuremberg
and founded in January 1833 the »Gesellschaft für die
Erhaltung der Denkmäler vaterländischer Geschichte, Literatur
und Kunst« (the society for the conservation of monuments
of patriotric history, literature and art). Not earlier than twenty
years later, Aufseß could finally realize his vision of bringing
together history societies and founding an overall German
museum: In August 1852, the unification of the history societies
into the »Gesamtverein der deutschen Geschichts‑ und
Altertumsvereine« and the foundation of the »germanisches
Museums«, as the new museum was first named.
The museum was to establish a general repertory of the
entire sources of German history, literature and art until 1650,
to make accessible to the public all objects encompassing
the archives, library, art and antiquity collections and to
publish corresponding catalogues. When planning the
foundation of »a great historical‑antiquarian national
museum« Aufseß did not follow in the first line the goal to
collect originals but rather copies and duplicates of objects
contained in other collections to register these objects in a
most complete and systematic order. The objects were to
be put in a »strictly scientific order« to »finally achieve an
overall view of the scattered sources for history and antiquity
studies«. 31 In this way, Aufseß anticipated the documentation
in the form of databases, which nowadays have to be
26
See the overviews of Klüpfel 1844 and
Wendehorst 2002.
27
See Hess, 2014.
28
See Hess 2012.
29
Hakelberg 2004, 533‑537.
30
Klüpfel 1844, 546.
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accessible at any time and at any place as a consequence of
the increasing digitalization of the European cultural heritage
for information and research purposes.
Why collect? Some considerations for a wider
understanding of collector’s motifs in Sintra
Even if the scientific interest in stained‑glass painting was
enormous, the historical as well as the newly produced
artefacts were first and foremost used for the decoration
of neo‑Gothic buildings and collection halls. The colourful,
faint light described by Goethe conveyed the atmosphere
of an utmost effective mise‑en‑scène of venerable history.
The stained‑glass paintings served like other monuments
of art as atmospheric requisites and had in the first place
a decorative purpose: The allure of the pseudo‑medieval
fantasy should emphasize the venerability of the house and
the ancestors of the collector.
The main focus of the neo‑Gothic stained glass
arrangements was not put on a correct historical revival, but
on the search for a new harmony of art and nature in the age
of Enlightenment. Colourful stained‑glass paintings adorned
the windows of the neo‑Gothic buildings. As they did not
fill the entire windows enough space was left, however, to
allow a glimpse into the nature outside from the intimate
refuge bathed in half‑light. For accentuating the colourful
light the stained‑glass paintings were not only inserted
into clear glass windows but were often surrounded with
strongly contrasting coloured glass. This mise‑en‑scène
had a long‑lasting influence on the museums and the world
exhibitions of the 19th century and even on the ethnographical
room arrangements in museums in the early 20th century. 32
The predominant neo‑Gothic ensembles as in Wörlitz,
Kassel, Laxenburg and Erbach were not simply a
Disney‑World of the late 18th and early 19th century: Their
function was not limited to a romantic staffage of the English
Garden, they were first and foremost patriotic‑dynastic
monuments. Noble families thereby tried to compensate their
privileges lost in the wake of the Napoleonic reorganization
of Europe and to manifest their cultural leadership. The
decision for the Gothic style can finally also be interpreted as
a clear confession to German patriotism. Old buildings were
recklessly looted or torn down for decorating neo‑Gothic
buildings — even Franz von Erbach had nicked many of his
important glass paintings by replacing them by white glass —
a fact that very much is in contrast to his efforts to preserve
historical monuments at that times.
Why collect? After this tour d’horizon a number of
questions arise concerning Sintra and its historical setting,
which I cannot answer for lack of literature and sources in
archives accessible to me. Even if some of the examples given
might have had a direct influence on the Pena Palace, it still
has to be examined carefully, which motifs and functions
were adopted thereby. The fact alone that the carefree
eclecticism of architecture unified almost all neo styles of the
19th century to a fantastic ensemble, strikingly differs from
the above‑mentioned German buildings and collections.
Did the stained‑glass paintings consequently only serve as
a romantic accessory in the Portuguese Neu‑Schwanstein?
A lot of additional questions arise concerning Ferdinand II
as a collector and his creation here in Sintra, and we are all
awaiting these answers with great interest.
31
Quotation from a circular letter of Freiherr
Hans von Aufseß to the directors of the
history societies in Germany dated 27
October 1846; see Wendehorst 2002, 47‑49.
32
See Wörner 1999, 246‑272, Bauer 2005.
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Kunst‑Blatt 20: 77‑78, 81‑88.
The Stained Glass
collection of
King Ferdinand II
of Portugal
— Assembling
the puzzle
Abstract
Resumo
Within the vast number of art works collected by King Ferdinand
II (1816‑1885) throughout his life, stained glass occupies a place
of particular prominence. It was in the Palácio das Necessidades
that the king concentrated much of this collection of stained
glass panels, grouped together and mounted in the windows of
the dining room of the palace. Similar assemblages were also
mounted in the great hall of Palácio da Pena.
The aim of this project is a better understanding of the origins,
acquisition circuits and technological characteristics of the
stained glass panels of King Ferdinand II. This collection covers
several centuries of the stained glass history — from 14th c. to
19th c. — and the study of these extraordinary panels presents a
challenge and grand opportunity to better understand the history
of this artistic discipline.
No seio da vasta colecção de obras de arte reunidas pelo
rei D. Fernando II (1816‑1885) ao longo da sua vida, os vitrais
ocuparam um lugar de particular destaque, tendo o rei reunido
à data a mais importante colecção de vitral europeu em Portugal.
Grande parte dos vitrais desta colecção, que foram agrupados
e montados em folhas de janelas para a sala de jantar do Palácio
das Necessidades, bem como para o salão nobre do Palácio
da Pena.
O objectivo do projeto que aqui se apresenta é uma melhor
compreensão das origens, circuito de aquisição e características
tecnológicas da coleção de vitrais do rei D. Fernando II, a qual
abrange vários séculos da história do vitral — do séc. xiv ao
séc. xix. O estudo destes painéis apresenta um grande desafio e
oportunidade de melhor compreender a história desta disciplina
artística.
Keywords
stained‑glass | documentation | iconography | technical art
history
Palavras-chave
Vitral | Documentação | Iconografia | Técnicas de produção
artística
M á r c i a V i l a r i g u e s e t al .
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia/UNL
and VICARTE, Lisbon, Portugal
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“Que trabalho e que tempo não empregaria S. M. El‑Rei o
Sr. D. Fernando em pesquizas e investigações, para conseguir
juntar vidros sufficientes para completar aquellas janellas ?
São difficuldades estas que o oiro não vence logo; o prazer
do rei é por isso maior.” (Biester, 1860, p. 10)
T
he stained glass collection of the Portuguese King
consort Ferdinand II of Saxe‑Coburg and Gotha
(1816‑1885) hides an intricate history that is yet to be
unlocked. By royal commission, panels from the 14th to
the 19th century were put together on window sashes to
decorate the Dining Hall at the Palácio das Necessidades, in
Lisbon, and the Great Hall at the Palácio da Pena, in Sintra.
During the 20th century the panels from Necessidades were
sent to Sintra, where they remained in storage until 2011.
The conservation and research project initiated in 2010 has
been allowing the public display of some of these panels
for the very first time (exhibition Stained Glass and Glass
Objects — Ferdinand II’s passion) (Martinho e Vilarigues 2011,
Rodrigues et al. 2013). Therefore, one needs now to enlarge
the knowledge concerning this collection. In order to find
out where these panels came from and how they ended
up in Portugal, a wide archival, analytical and iconographic
research project is being carried out.
The aim of this project is a better understanding of the
origins, acquisition circuits and technological characteristics
of stained glass panels from Palácio da Pena. The results
expected from completion of this research will represent
a real asset to the history and preservation of stained
glass in Portugal and to the international research. The
work programme will lead to new discoveries in the field
of art history and cultural heritage, creating a corpus of
information essential to the understanding and appreciation
of the art of stained glass.
To achieve these goals, a multidisciplinary team brings
together experts in the fields of Art History, Materials
Science, Conservation and Technical Art History. A network
was built‑up within this project, bringing to collaboration
Parques de Sintra — Monte da Lua (entrusted with the
management of Palácio da Pena), the research unit Glass
and Ceramics for the Arts (VICARTE), the Department
of Conservation and Restoration from Nova University
of Lisboa, and the Ion Beam Laboratory of the Instituto
Superior Técnico.
This will contribute to the knowledge of the historical
and artistic value of stained glass, essential to a better
appreciation and preservation of this legacy, ensuring
accessibility to present and future generations.
Research of archive documentation
The project began with the research of documentation in
order to understand how such a distinct collection arrived
in Portugal in the mid‑19th century.
In order to better understand the provenance and the
formation of the collection of stained glass windows we
lead an investigation in the National Archive of Portugal,
Torre do Tombo. This research forms the second stage
of archival research and could partly be based on
results from the research in the private archive of the
Bragança‑family in Vila Viçosa (Arquivo Histórico da Casa
de Bragança).
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The ongoing investigation in Torre do Tombo focuses
on the collection of private documents of the members
of the royal household (Cartório da Casa Real), which
includes the correspondence between the members of the
Portuguese royal family as well as letters from members of
the vast family of Saxe‑Coburg and Gotha based in several
parts of Europe (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Great Britain).
The collection mainly consists of documents from the
19th century and comprises approx. 260 boxes and 60 books.
As the collection is not yet completely archivistically
organized, the major part of the documentation had to be
reviewed.
Several documents provide important information about
the collecting policy of Dom Fernando II. Namely letters
from art dealers and receipts inform about acquisitions not
only of stained glass, but also of furniture, paintings and
silver objects. Only a minor part of this documentation has
already been studied and published (Lopes 2013, Xavier 2011,
Xavier 2013).
Regarding the stained glass collection the correspondence
of Baron of Eschwege, the “architect of Pena”, proved to be
extremely fruitful. He played an important role as initiator of
the stained glass collection, in mentoring the project and in
providing several panels from northern Germany.
Another nucleus which is being investigated in more detail
is the official correspondence between the administration
of the Royal House and the customs office as well as other
public departments and institutions. These documents make
part of the general collection of the Royal House (Arquivo da
Casa Real), comprising several thousand boxes inventoried
in chronological order. They provide conclusive information
about the nature and the arrival dates of objects of art,
which were acquired abroad.
In the same documentary context can also be expected
more information upon the installation of the stained
glass windows in Pena Palace and in the private rooms of
D. Fernando II in Necessidades Palace. To solve several issues
about the questions of mounting and installation of the
windows there will also to be taken into review the archive
of the ministry of civil works (Ministério das Obras Públicas,
Comércio e Indústria). The review of these two archival
collections will be subject of further investigation.
Iconography study and decoding
The study of the iconography of D. Ferdinand’s stained
glass collection is absolutely essential to its understanding,
since the identification of themes, figures and the way they
are treated will allow establishing parallelisms with other
works of stained glass of the same period. Such a bridge is
indispensable to enchase the aforesaid stained glasses in
their historical and artistic context, in what concerns a wider
framing related to the stained glass typologies of German,
Swiss and Dutch production.
Due to the diversity of themes and figurations,
the iconographic analysis have to embrace very different
areas, from the heraldic to the study of the garments
and drapery, the analysis of landscape and architectonic
framing, including interior representations. Finally, the
iconography of the saints — especially of those of local
character — also play an important role: identification of
attributes may be used as fingerprints to recognize the
saints and their origin.
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The collection gathered by D. Ferdinand II presents pieces
of great quality and extremely rich thematic that include
scenes of both religious and laic nature.
Among the stained glasses of religious nature are the
scenes inspired by the New Testament. The representations
of Marian cult are also particularly interesting, including
images of the so called Virgin of the Apocalypse of different
periods. This allows an analysis of the themes evolution and
the establishment of analogies with other examples executed
by some of the most famous names of European stained
glass, namely the Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet, author
of a representation of the Virgin of the Apocalypse — with
which one of the images of the Pena collection bears a
clear affinity — and Albrecht Durer, who produced several
drawings of the Virgin adapted to stained glass, whose
iconography displays similarities with another Virgin form the
this collection.
Still within the thematic of religious nature, the
representations of the saint Church Fathers, iconographic
motif commonly found in fifteenth century German stained
glasses, are prominent, since the Pena examples enable this
collection to fit in an international panorama.
Equally worth of mention are the occasional scenes of the
Old Testament (Book of Judith) and of Christian martyrs
(Martyrs of Morocco) which confirm once more the immense
diversity of themes.
In addition to the religious scenes, the D. Ferdinand
collection stands out too for its several stained glasses
with subjects of local character, representing patrons
and their respective heraldic, as well as episodes related
to the history and/or legend of their respective regions
(deserving of a special reference is the stained glass with
the famous incident of William Tell and the apple), and
some gallant scenes (like a young noble playing lute to
his Lady).
It can thus be stated that the multiplicity of thematic
makes this collection absolutely unique in the national
panorama.
Analytical characterisation of glass composition
The stained glass panels of the collection under study is
being characterized with respect to the composition of glass
and the decoration elements as enamels, grisailles, yellow
silver staining and others, fundamental for the identification
of production centres and techniques.
Due to the historical importance and cultural significance
of these stained glass panels non‑destructive analysis will
be performed in order to obtain abundant information,
meaningful from both the historical and technological points
of view, while preserving the valuable objects. The selected
analytical techniques have already been demonstrated in
the field of ancient and historical glass (Brill 1999, Janssens
et al. 2000 73‑91, Jembrih‑Simbürger et al. 2002 321‑328,
Vilarigues, Delgado and Redol 2011 246‑251, Vilarigues
et al. 2011 211‑217), and include micro‑X‑ray fluorescence
(micro‑EDXRF), external ion beam analysis (PIXE, RBS and
PIGE) and UV‑Vis absorption spectrometry.
From the elemental composition of the glass we can
extract information about the provenance and production
date, because raw materials used for the production of both
glass and painting materials changed in time and according
to the production site.
RHA 03 25 DOSSIER The Stained Glass collection of King Ferdinand II of Portugal...
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Until now a total of 20 stained glass panels and 30 stained
glass fragments have been analysed by EDXRF. The analysis
of the stained glass panels were performed in situ (Pena
National Palace). Major constituents and minor elements
were identified for the chemical characterization of coloured
and colourless glass.
According to EDXRF analysis the fragments analysed
belong to the groups of potash, mixed alkali and high lime
low alkali glass. From the elemental composition of the glass,
information regarding the provenance and production date
is being studied, since raw materials used for the production
of both glass and painting materials changed in time and
according to the production site.
The first approach of data analysis consisted in analyzing
the CaO/K 2O ratio of the glass in order to differentiate
groups. Colourless glass is being used as a first approach
in order to try to differentiate production sites and dates.
A group of 7 Bierscheiben stained glass panels showed low
values of K 2O (1.5‑2,7wt%) and high values of CaO (22‑26
wt%) with ratio values between nine and twelve. All the
other analysed glass panels have ratio values lower than
seven. Another three panels, which are classified as German
15th century stained glass, also seem to have characteristic
values with a ratio value between four and five. However,
regarding the Swiss and the Netherlands panels we could not
detect a characteristic ratio. Therefore a multivariate analysis
approach is being tested to enlarge the data considered to
quantify the similarities and differences between specimens
and groups of specimens.
Simultaneously, in order to attest the results obtained by
EDXRF, the same 30 stained glass fragments and 2 panels
have been analysed by PIXE. Quantitative results were
compared with results obtained by EDXRF. In most cases,
when bulk glass can be analysed, the CaO/K2O ratios
obtained by both methods are in agreement.
Finally, UV‑Vis spectroscopy performed in coloured
stained glass panels and fragments, allowed the detection
of the presence of Co2+ for blue glass, Mn3+ in purple glass,
silver nanoparticles for silver staining, copper nanoparticles
for red glass. The presence of iron oxide (Fe II, III) is present
on yellow glass or as a contaminant in colourless glass.
Historical painting techniques of stained glass
The stained glass collection from Palácio da Pena presents
a group of panels produced in different countries and
periods (manly Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland). They
exhibit a high quality technique, with the presence of
grisaille, silver stain, enamels and sanguine red. Between
the 14th c. and 19th c., several technical advances allowed
increasingly sophisticated methods of depiction, the study
of the different painting techniques is under research in
what concerns the production, chemical composition and
degradation problems, mainly found in the blue enamels and
red sanguine.
Research on historical recipes performed in this project
allows an accurate reproduction of samples of the several
painting materials and techniques. Important issues are
approached, such as the evolution of grisaille colours,
manufacture of silver stain with tones varying from yellow
to red, production of enamels with different colours, red
sanguine and also conservation issues concerning these
painted surfaces. This work will allow a more accurate
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approach on stained glass painting techniques, being an
important step for the investigation of this artistic discipline.
A detailed knowledge of the materials used by the artists
is essential to unveil their techniques and to place their
works in context as well as to establish the most adequate
conservation procedures. Furthermore, most of the current
stained glass painting materials do not reflect the older
technology and cannot be used as models to study the
degradation mechanisms or conservation treatments.
The production of manuscripts concerning both glass
and glass paint reached a crucial point during the 17th and
18th centuries. Antonio Neri with his treatise L’Arte Vetraria
(1612) and André Felibien with Des principe de l’Architecture,
de la Sculpture, de la Peinture et des Autres Arts qui en
dependant (1676) opened the way to several translations,
annotations and experiments throughout Europe, preserving
the knowledge of ancient glass painters and combining them
with the technologies available.
With the evolution of the production techniques, coloured
glasses were slowly superseded by clear glass in which
the paint was applied, giving to this form of art a colourful
palette. One example is the application of enamels, a
tendency that began in the 15th century, which consists of
a vitreous paint that melts at a lower temperature than the
glass onto which is applied. It is composed by a mixture of a
flux, a colouring agent and a binder.
The study and reproduction of blue enamels was accessed
based on the information given by the recipes and recent
contributions to their study. Recipes of Antonio Neri and
Robert Dossie were produced, using pure chemical reagents.
Parallel to this work, raw materials such as plant ashes,
quartz pebbles from the Ticino River, and a cobalt ore
(skutterudite) from Schneeberg, Saxony, were collected for
study and characterization.
Fiber Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS), with
colorimetric analysis, on both blue enamel paintings
reproduced and blue enamel paintings present in stained
glass panels from the collection of the National Palace of
Pena was performed. The goal is to compare morphological
and colour characterization. The assessment of the probable
chemical composition of the enamel paintings from case
studies will be assessed by a chemometrics approach,
with a model created with the results of the reproductions
achieved.
Preliminary studies of sanguine red technique were
performed. Case studies show this technique was applied
through different methods: with an application of iron oxide
alone, with a mixture of iron oxide and lead oxide, or a
mixture of iron oxide with lead oxide and powdered glass.
To better understand the processes involved, historical
recipes were gathered, in order to make reproductions with
pure chemical reagents to compare with the case studies.
Their characterization with FORS technique is in progress,
as also the use of chemometrics in order to access probable
chemical composition of the red paint.
Spreading and sharing information with the public
Various factors such as the spread of new technologies of
information and the increasing concern to bring scientific
knowledge to its various users and beneficiaries — from
professionals to the general public — justify new solutions for
the dissemination, sharing and knowledge transfer. Within
27 DOSSIER The Stained Glass collection of King Ferdinand II of Portugal...
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this project both traditional and multimedia materials and
hands‑on workshops are being created, contributing to the
dissemination of the results of this research project, which
will enrich the experience of the visitors of the exhibition
of this stained glass collection. It is worth noting that the
preservation of cultural heritage is improved by public
display, which enables its appreciation.
The interdisciplinary work under development in this
project allows the achievement of relevant results in a
pioneering study in our country. It is of strategic interest
to raise awareness about the value and importance of
the heritage of stained glass in Portugal. A wider and
deeper understanding of the origins and technological
characteristics of the production of stained glasses will allow
a greater appreciation of this heritage.
References
Biester, E. 1860. Revista Contemporanea de Portugal e Brasil, 2.o ano, p. 10
Brill, R. H.. 1999. Chemical analysis of early glasses, The Corning Museum of
Glass, Vol. 1, the catalogue; Vol. 2, the tables, New York: The Corning Museum
of Glass.
Janssens, K., Vittiglio, G., Deraedt, I., Aerts, A., Vekemans, B., Vincze, L., Wei,
F., Deryck, I., Schalm, O., Adams, F., Rindby, A., Knochel, A., Simionovici, A.,
Snigirev, A.. 2000. “Use of microscopic XRF for non‑destructive analysis in
Art and Archaeometry”, in X‑Ray Spectrometry, 29, pp. 73‑91.
Jembrih‑Simbürger, D., Neelmeijer, C., Schalm, O., Fredrickx, P., Schreiner, M.,
De Vis, K., Mäder, M., Schryvers, D., and Caen, J.. 2002. “The colour of silver
stained glass — analytical investigations carried out with XRF, SEM/EDX,
TEM, and IBA” in Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 17, pp. 321‑328.
Lopes, Maria Antónia. 2013. “Cartório da Casa Real” in D. Fernando II. Lisboa:
Círculo de Leitores.
Martinho, Bruno, and Vilarigues, Márcia. 2011. Vitrais e Vidros, um gosto de
D. Fernando II / Stained Glass and Glass Objects, Ferdinand II’s passion,
Parques de Sintra, Monte da Lua.
Rodrigues, A., Martinho, B., Macedo, F., Vilarigues, M. 2013. “The Stained glass
collection of King Ferdinand II of Portugal — Concept, Conservation, and
Chemical Analysis of Two Panel”, in Recent Advances in Glass, Stained Glass
and Ceramics Conservation, pp. 259‑267. ISBN: 9789089321138
Vilarigues, M., Delgado, J., and Redol, P.. 2011. Stained glass from the Convent
of Christ in Tomar, Portugal: history and characterization, Journal of Glass
Studies, 53, 246‑251.
Vilarigues, M., Redol, P., Machado, M., Rodrigues, P. Alves. L.C. and da Silva,
R.C.. 2011. “Corrosion of 15th and early 16th century stained glass from
the monastery of Batalha studied with external ion beam”, in Materials
Characterization, 62, pp. 211‑217
Xavier, Hugo. 2011. O “Museu de antiguidades” da Ajuda. Numismática e
ourivesaria das colecções reais ao tempo de Luís, Revista de História da Arte
N.o 8, pp. 71‑87
Xavier, Hugo. 2013, Galeria da Pintura no Real Paço da Ajuda, Imprensa
Nacional‑Casa da Moeda.
WHat to
assemble?
Neueberstein
Castle and
its Collection
of Stained Glass
ABSTRACT
RESUMO
The rebuilding of Neueberstein Castle as a neo-Gothic residential
complex was a key project of the grand dukes of Baden.
When Leopold came into power in 1830, the Neueberstein
was transformed to a museal site, setting a precedent for later
collections of national art, and constituting perhaps the most
important predecessor for the gallery in the dukes’ palace at
Karlsruhe, which opened 1846. To feed his passion for stained
glass, Leopold undertook journeys to historical sites with a view
to acquiring material, he made a legal claim on the glazing as
church patron and also bought from David Seligmann, a court
agent, financier to the grand duke and a captain of industry in the
grand duchy of Baden. It counts as a fortunate coincidence that
at precisely this early period there were already glass-painters in
Freiburg who had the high artistic aspirations and the technical
knowledge necessary to serve Leopold’s visions.
A reconstrução do Castelo de Neueberstein como um complexo
residencial neogótico foi um projeto-chave dos Grã-Duques
de Baden. Quando Leopold subiu ao poder em 1830, o Castelo
de Neueberstein foi transformado num sítio museológico,
estabelecendo um precedente para coleções posteriores
da arte nacional e que constitui, talvez, o antecessor mais
importante para a galeria no palácio dos Duques em Karlsruhe,
que abriu 1846. Para alimentar a sua paixão por vitrais, Leopold
empreendeu viagens a locais históricos com intenção de adquirir
objectos, reclamou direitos sobre os vitrais enquanto mecenas
da igrejae adquiriu ainda a David Seligmann, um agente da corte,
financiador do Grão-Duque e capitão de indústria no Grã-Ducado
de Baden. Deu-se a feliz coincidência de, precisamente neste
período inicial, já existirem pintores de vidro em Freiburg, que
tinham altas aspirações artísticas e os conhecimentos técnicos
necessários para servir as visões de Leopold.
Keywords
Renaissance of Stained Glass manufacturing | Romanticism
and Nationalism | Political Iconography | Early Cultural
Heritage Preservation | Early Collection of National Art
Palavras-chave
Ressurgimento da manufatura de vitral | Romantismo
e Nacionalismo | Iconografia política | Preservação de
Antiguidades | Coleções de arte nacional
D a n i e l P a r e ll o
Research Associate at the German Corpus
Vitrearum, Freiburg im Breisgau
RHA 03 A
fter Staufenberg Castle in Baden, Neueberstein Castle
was the second fortification that Archduke Leopold
von Baden (1790‑1852) had rebuilt as a memorial site for
the Baden dynasty. These ancient aristocratic seats were
transformed into atmospheric residential castles that were
furnished with historical works of art and cultural artefacts,
allowing the spirit of previous ages to live again. A notable
proportion of the artworks were in stained glass, for which
Leopold had a particular passion.
Intellectual and Political Contexts
In order to understand the driving force behind the archduke
of Baden’s architectural obsessions, it pays to examine both
his origins and his social connections. In fact, Leopold von
Hochberg was not due to take the reins of government, as
he was the son of Archduke Karl Friedrich (1728‑1811) by his
second, morganatic marriage to the considerably younger
Luise Karoline (Freiin Geyer von Geyersberg, 1768‑1820), who
had been a lady‑in‑waiting to his deceased wife. As a result,
Leopold’s education was focused from the start primarily on
encouraging his artistic leanings. Prince Leopold III Friedrich
Franz von Anhalt‑Dessau — Leopold’s godfather and a friend
of his father’s — played a crucial role in this respect, and
the young Leopold came to emulate the older man’s finely
honed artistic sensibilities his whole life long (Schneider
1965).
At the time, the prince was among the first to adopt
the landscaping fashion imported from England, and had
a landscape garden created (now the Wörlitz‑Dessau
Garden Kingdom), which he had decorated with quotations
in architecture from various cultures and periods. The
30 DOSSIER Neueberstein Castle and ist Collection of Stained Glass
Gothic House, which was erected in several stages using
Gothic forms between 1773 and 1813, was reserved for
the memorialization of forebears (Ruoss and Giesicke
2012). While the relics of bygone ages gathered there
were intended to recall the illustrious past of the prince’s
forebears, the large traceried windows were filled with
stained glass that Prince Leopold had acquired during a
stay in Switzerland from the Zürich priest and art collector
Johann Casper Lavater. In addition to their antique value,
these colourful panels created a kaleidoscopic twilight in
the room, blurring the distinction between appearance and
reality.
Such spaces given over to the medieval experience must
have made a huge impression on the young Leopold. He had
first‑hand experience of the most beautiful of them, such
as the Knights’ Hall at Erbach im Odenwald (Hess 1995/96;
Gast 2012), or the artful Löwenburg ruins at Wilhelmshöhe
bei Kassel (Dötsch 2006; Parello 2008, 216‑240, 254‑260,
280‑283). Leopold may have made the decision to acquire
the castle at Eberstein bei Gernsbach and to have it rebuilt
in a similar spirit in 1825, during a visit by the crown prince
of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm IV. (Schneider 1960, 260). The
latter could be deemed the ‘lover of the Romantic on the
German throne’, and he was no less enthusiastic in his love
for monuments of ‘the homeland’. With the reconstruction
of the fortifications of Stolzenfels on the Rhine and
Hohenzollern on the Alb as medieval fairytale castles, he
became the vanguard of the most important aristocratic
protagonists of the Romantic movement in Germany. It is
easy to imagine how these two soul‑mates — after visiting
the castle so picturesquely set above the Murg Valley and
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31 DOSSIER Neueberstein Castle and ist Collection of Stained Glass
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Fig. 1 Daniel Fohr, View of
Neueberstein with Medieval Hunting
Party, 1843. (Karlsruhe, Staatliche
Kunsthalle)
imbibing the ‘excellent local vintage’ (meaning the burgundy
known locally as Eberblut, the vines for which are still
cultivated on the southern face of the castle hill) — drifted
into architectural reverie (Schneider 1960, 261).
When Leopold finally inherited Neueberstein in 1829, the
building, which was medieval at the core, had been prepared
as a residence for Leopold’s half‑brother Prince Friedrich
von Baden (d. 1817) [fig. 1] (Krimm 2004, Kleinmann
2007) 1. Leopold’s father bequeathed the furnishings to his
second son in 1796, on the condition that ‘the castle not
be demolished, but that it be retained as a memorial to its
former owners the counts of Eberstein (or at least be kept in
the state it had under them), and that it never be considered
surplus to requirements and sold’ (Krimm 2004, 82).
So why exactly were the margraves (later the archdukes)
of Baden interested in Neueberstein? The picturesque
situation certainly played a role in the choice of location so
near the residence in Baden where the family chose to spend
the summer months. Historical reasons may have been no
less decisive in the choice however: in the thirteenth century
the Eberstein counts were the most powerful family in the
north of the Black Forest — construction activity at the castle
goes as far back as this period. The Baden family received
half of Alt‑Eberstein Castle as a gift with the marriage of
Kunigunde von Eberstein to Margrave Rudolf I in 1240; on
account of increasing debts, the count of Eberstein’s family
was compelled to sell half of its county as well as half of
Neueberstein Castle to the margrave of Baden. The male line
of the Eberstein counts was extinguished in 1660. From a
territorial point of view, the Eberstein county lands were an
important cornerstone for the Baden margraves, and with its
600‑year‑long history, the castle was exceptionally suited to
being a dynastic memorial that would allow the distant past
of the house of Baden to live again (Krimm 2003, 10).
In any event, the acquisition and reconstruction of
Neueberstein was only one of Leopold’s several projects
for erecting dynastic memorials. 2 The explanation for this,
beyond Leopold’s enthusiasm for all things medieval, lies in
his particular familial situation. With Leopold, the younger
line of the family inherited the margraveship, a state of
affairs whose legitmacy was widely doubted from the start.
To make matters worse, the appearance of Kaspar Hauser
increased levels of uncertainty among the general public,
Leopold bought the castle for the sum of
15,000 Gulden from Christiane Luise von
Nassau‑Usingen, widow of the desceased
Friedrich von Baden.
1 In addition to the rebuilding of Staufenberg
Castle, Leopold had the mortuary chapel of
the most ancient margraves at Lichtenthal
Monastery near Baden rebuilt as a princely,
atmospheric mausoleum in neo‑Gothic style.
In a similar manner, the collegiate church at
Pforzheim — which had been the burial place
for the Protestant line of the margraves since
the sixteenth century — was restaged, with
a gothicizing monument and genealogical
glazing scheme.
2 RHA 03 which wanted to see a legitimate offspring of the older line
inherit; in order for the Hochberg dynasty to have a chance
however, Hauser had to be isolated. As a brief climax to
the crisis in 1835, Bavaria demanded that Pfalz be returned
to it. Against this background, Leopold’s need to establish
eloquent witnesses to the history of the house of Baden, in
order to identify himself as the legitimate heir to power, is
all too understandable (Krimm 1995). We will have reason to
return to this in connection with research into Neueberstein’s
pictorial programme. The castle was used as a welcome
retreat, to escape from the pressing political problems of the
present into a transfigured feudality from the past.
The Artistic Decor of Neueberstein Castle
Reconstruction of the appearance of the castle and its
furnishings in the Leopoldine era relies on antiquarian
descriptions and the occasional preserved image, since the
majority of the furnishings are no longer on site and multiple
phases of rebuilding have altered the historicizing character
of the site (Overlack 2009). 3
For methodological reasons, the furnishing of
Neueberstein should be treated in light of the two phases of
its reconstruction. For the first, repair phase of 1803‑1804,
Leopold’s father contracted the Baden court architect
Friedrich Weinbrenner (1766‑1826), who reconstructed the
castle area in more sentimentalist vein (Walter 2009, 49‑57;
Krimm 2004, 82‑85). In a careful restaging Weinbrenner
melded Gothic decoration with Classicistic architectural
elements, thereby creating a style mixture that was
reflected in the furnishing. In this way the old mountain
keep gained the appearance of a church tower decorated
32 DOSSIER Neueberstein Castle and ist Collection of Stained Glass
with pinnacles and console friezes with its own viewing
platform. A surviving image of the room on the upper floor
[fig. 2] yields reliable information on the manner in which
this space was furnished. The walls were painted with
‘old‑fashioned’ ornamental friezes, including a genealogical
series of armorials of the counts of Eberstein. The upper
lights of the pointed‑arch window contained a wooden
tracery framework, assembled to form an attractive pattern
and filled simply with plain and unpainted coloured glass.
The knights’ hall, with its distinctive shallow‑lunette vaulting,
is also the work of Weinbrenner. Unfortunately, nothing is
known about the former interior furnishing, though at the
time this room must have been ‘impressive and austere’, as
Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia reported on the occasion
of the aforementioned visit he made in 1825 (Schneider
1960, 260). 4 It seems highly likely that the traceries of the
six windows here, like those of the tower room, were simply
filled with unpainted coloured glass.
After Leopold inherited the castle in 1829, the building and
its furnishing underwent far‑reaching alterations. As Konrad
Krimm so astutely observes, Neueberstein, as an edifice,
was by no stretch of the imagination a mountain memorial
— but under its new owner the site was indeed transformed
into a memorial castle (Krimm 2003, 9). The new building
phase was nevertheless kept within limits: according to plans
drawn up by the court architect Heinrich Hübsch (1795‑1863)
and his master of works Johann Belzer, the ensemble was
enriched on the southern flank with a two‑storey stable
block.
More important however was the artistic decoration of
the castle. Acting as advisers to Leopold in this respect
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3 The sources for furnishing programme
carried out under Leopold must be
considered lost: the building records only
start in 1850. In the years 2000‑2008 the
new owner, with the support of the Office
for the Preservation of Historical Monuments,
set about extensive restoration works, which
included the rebuilding of the knights’ hall
(Rittersaal, which had been destroyed in a fire
in 1949), together with its vaulted ceiling, and
the Rondell (turret).
Extract from a letter from Friedrich Wilhelm
to Leopold dated 23 August 1836.
4 RHA 03 33 DOSSIER Neueberstein Castle and ist Collection of Stained Glass
Fig. 2 The Neueberstein turret,
watercolour by an anonymous
English artist, 1825. (Karlsruhe,
Generallandesarchiv)
were the priest and court historian Franz Joseph Herr, who
was an illegitimate son of Archduke Karl Friedrich (and
so Leopold’s half‑brother), and Leopold’s adjutant Georg
Heinrich Krieg von Hochfelden. Together they worked up
the pictorial programme around central events in Baden’s
history and from time to time produced artistic designs
for elements that were to be made from scratch. In 1840,
Ludwig von Schwanthaler joined their company; he had
previously been active as a sculptor and adviser to Ludwig I,
king of Bavaria, and enjoyed high renown in German aristic
circles. Von Schwanthaler drew up a programme for the
whole of Eberstein, which was however only implemented in
part (Obser 1921; Krimm 2004, 86‑88). The most important
part of this was the sculptural decoration on the exterior of
the building: Leopold had received from his brothers as a
gift the figural Romanesque portal of the demolished abbey
of Petershausen, and acquired through von Schwanthaler’s
agency a no less monumental fifteenth‑century Crucifixion
group from Bad Herrenalb, a dissolved Cistercian monastery
that had originally been founded by the Eberstein counts.
This figural ensemble, together with two figures of knights
created by von Schwanthaler, was intended to lend the castle
a more medieval mien; this stage setting was also designed
to evoke a suitable mood in the visitor as soon as he or she
entered.
After Leopold’s re‑formation, the knights’ hall resembled
in many respects that at Erbach Castle, which Leopold knew
first‑hand [fig. 3]. Here as there, there were original suits of
knightly armour on pedestals, set before crossed halberds
with flags. In the centre of the hall stood a life‑size likeness of
Count Philipp II of Eberstein. The room would have seemed
like a medieval throne room to anyone entering: against the
rear wall opposite the entrance Leopold had a throne made
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Fig. 3 View of the knights’ hall at
Neueberstein, watercolour by Louis
Hoffmeister, c.1853‑55. (Karlsruhe,
Staatliche Kunsthalle)
to a Gothic design set up, flanked by two ‘guards’ in armour
bearing the ancient and new Eberstein arms. Above was
raised the shield of Baden, its bend gules on a field or. In the
traceries of each of the six windows were installed shields
with foliage attesting the lineages of the Eberstein counts
and the Baden margraves. The scheme was arranged so that
the Eberstein alliance arms were installed across the side
windows to the two windows to either side of the throne,
which displayed the alliance arms of Friedrich, the first owner
of the castle, and Leopold (Beust 1855, 69‑77). Through
this genealogically driven proof of descent Leopold’s oft
doubted right of accession acquired a pictorial legitimacy,
RHA 03 which simultaneously was given a theatrical setting, the
throne prepared for a ruler in a manner akin to a profane
hetoimasia.
The archduke contracted the Freiburg glass‑painters
Andreas (1784‑1839) and Lorenz (1783‑1849) Helmle to
execute the armorial panels (Parello 2000, 36‑56, 90‑111). In
1823, the two brothers had delivered the first monumental
coloured glazing for Freiburg Minster. Within a short
period of time, Andreas and Lorenz, with the generous
support of Ferdinand Ludwig Benedikt von Reinach‑Werth
(a former Commander of the Order of the Knights of Malta),
succeeded in acquiring the skills of this complex art, which
had disappeared completely into obscurity. Following on
from this, their attention to detail drove the brothers to
establish a close relationship with the glass workshops of
the Black Forest that produced the coloured materials they
needed and were privy to the technical knowledge they
craved. High praise was lavished on the early work of the
Freiburg glass‑painters in publications that circulated beyond
the region (K.W. 1830; Schorn 1832, 97‑104). Archduke
Leopold, who developed a particular passion for stained
glass at an early stage, will have come to know the Helmle
brothers’ work at the latest at the exhibition of the Badischer
Kunstverein, which took place in 1829 in Karlsruhe under his
patronage. In any event, the city of Freiburg presented to
the archduke a panel depicting the Virgin in a aureole as a
gift, on the occasion of his accession to power the following
year. Leopold subsequently called in the glass‑painters for
nearly all the memorial projects for his homeland. Their task
was to restore all the stained‑glass panels that Leopold
had acquired and arrange them meaningfully, combining
35 DOSSIER Neueberstein Castle and ist Collection of Stained Glass
them with glass they had exceuted themselves. They could
not expect to be engaged for truly artistic contracts by
Leopold: the brothers produced armorial panels in the main.
The few figural panels they delivered were usually copies of
models that were highly prized as the time, such as Raphael
or Dürer.
In 1838, Leopold succeeded in acquiring two important
cycles in stained glass, which were installed in the main lights
of the windows in the knights’ hall, replacing rectangular
panels of plain glazing. The cycles consisted of eight
figural panels from the parish church at Ottersweier (early
Renaissance work of 1518 from Strasbourg) and four panels
from Dühren‑Sinsheim (dating to 1497) (Becksmann 1986,
19‑26, 207‑215). The parish church of Dühren had been an
integral part of the king’s Speyer prebend, established by
the Habsburg monarch Albrecht I (1298‑1308). Through
a process of secularization however the good and rights
devolved on the house of the archdukes of Baden. When the
parish petitioned in 1819 to have the choir entrusted to its
possession, the archduke agreed on condition that he receive
the stained glass for his personal antiquities collection. It
was not until 1838 that the parish handed over the panels
to Archduke Leopold, at his ‘express wish’. In return, the
parish received a silver chalice to be used in the celebration
of the Eucharist, and 40 gold ducats. One year previously,
the ministry for the interior had given permission for the sale
of the stained glass from Ottersweier to Eberstein Castle;
in return the archduke donated 440 Gulden to the parish
(to establish a school fund) as well as a panel depicting the
church’s patron, St John the Baptist, executed by the Helmle
brothers.
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RHA 03 Before installing Leopold’s panels, the Freiburg
glass‑painters subjected them to a conscientious restoration,
the exceptional quality of which should be emphasized at
this juncture [fig. 4]. The eight standing figures with donors
from Ottersweier were subsequently arranged in the four
windows on the long side of the room, whereby care was
exercised so that the panels with donors related to the
Eberstein counts, such as those of Fleckenstein lineage, were
installed in the opening with the appropriate alliance arms
in the tracery. All the panels received a suitably evocative
frame with a blue‑damask diaper. From that point on, the
four large panels from Dühren, which bore figures of saints,
an Annunciation [fig. 4a] and a Crucifixion, flanked the
throne on the rear wall. With this new glazing scheme in the
knights’ hall it was no longer possible to gaze down into the
surrounding Murg Valley. Regrettably, the knights’ hall has no
coloured glass today: following the removal of the armorials
in the traceries and the blue borderwork as a result of a fire
in 1949, the new owner of the castle eventually donated
the medieval panels to the Badisches Landesmuseum in
Karlsruhe and the Württembergisches Landesmuseum in
Stuttgart during the course of the 2002‑2008 refurbishment
(Patrimonia 2003).
By contrast, the turret connected to the knights’ hall, with
its furniture and Gothic ornamental decoration, has retained
its original character for the most part, even though the
history paintings depicting episodes from Eberstein history
by the Freiburg painter Albert Gräfle have disappeared
(Krimm 2004, 89‑94). 5 Both the oak‑framed casements of
the window are decorated with Kabinettscheiben (secular
panels executed for domestic contexts); in addition to a
36 DOSSIER Neueberstein Castle and ist Collection of Stained Glass
group of armorial panels of Swiss cantons, the four panels
from the charterhouse at Molsheim (Elsace) are worthy
of particular attention. We are here dealing with scenes
from an extensive cycle of more than 200 panels from
the monastery’s cloister, which was created between 1622
and 1631 by the Strasbourg glass‑painters Bartholomäus II.
Lingg and his sons Lorenz and Bartholomäus III. (Schneider
1952). The four panels displayed in the turret constitute
part of a group of hermit panels, with Sts Lucius, Marinus,
Spiridion and Onuphrius [fig. 5]. According to antiquarian
testimony, the panels are supposed to have come
from David Seligmann, who was later ennobled as the
baron of Eichthal (Beust 1855, 78). Seligmann moved in
the circles of the Baden archdukes’ financiers and was the
driving force behind the early industrialization of Baden.
On acquiring in 1821 the buildings of the suppressed
monastery of St. Blasien in the Black Forest, in which in
addition to a gun and machine manufactory he operated a
spinning factory, Seligmann also came into possession of
a number of very important panels of stained glass from
the German early Renaissance, which he sold immediately
to Archduke Leopold (Becksmann 2010, 563‑598;
Parello 2014). 6
Although the nearby Gothic Room, which was also
denoted an oratory, was richly panelled in oak, it did not
have any stained glass. Instead the walls were decorated
with panels from Berhard Strigel’s Marian altarpiece for
the monastery at Salem (executed 1507/08, now in the
Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe), which were a gift
from margraves Wilhelm and Maximilian to their brother
Leopold. They were assembled here with pictures by Moritz
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5 According to information from Franz Josef
Herr, Gräfle painted The Wedding of Margrave
Rudolf and Kunigunde von Eberstein (1257);
The Futile Siege of Eberstein by Württemberg
and the Imperial Cities (1367); The Slaying of
Bertold V von Zähringen during the Revolt
against the Nobility in Uechtland (1190); The
Laying of the Foundation Stone of Eberstein
Castle; The Laying of the Foundation Stone
of the Freiburg Minster; The Conviction of the
Last Staufer, Konradin von Schwaben, and
Friedrich von Baden in Naples (1296).
The abbot of St. Blasien had acquired
these in turn, in 1783, from the suppressed
charterhouse in Freiburg and had the
windows of his classicizing newly built church
decorated with them. The stained glass
eventually came to Langenstein Castle, which
Leopolds father Ludwig had acquired for
his beloved, Katharina von Langenstein; the
major part of the collection was put up for
auction by the heirs in Cologne in 1897.
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Fig. 4 Donor panels from the knights’ hall at Neueberstein:
Ursula von Fleckenstein with St Ursula and Hans Bock with
St Hieronymus, from Ottersweier, Strasbourg, c.1518, with
restorations by Helmle (head of St Ursula), c.1838. (Karlsruhe,
Badisches Landesmuseum)
Fig. 4a Panel from the knights’ hall
at Neueberstein: Annunciation, from
Sinsheim‑Dühren, Strasbourg, 1497.
(Stuttgart, Württembergisches
Landesmuseum)
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Fig. 5 Hermit panel in the turret at
Neueberstein, from the cloister of the
charterhouse at Molsheim, Alsace.
(Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmuseum)
von Schwind, who painted the dessus‑de‑porte with busts of
angels (Herrbach‑Schmidt 1996).
Two beautiful framed panels with leaded traceries,
containing stained glass of the Renaissance period, were set
into the balcony doors of the adjoining study. These only
passed into private hands in 1995, when the margraves’ art
collections were sold off. At the bottom were two Swiss
city panels, with four scenes from the Passion of Christ
above [fig. 6]. The traceries were filled with floral motifs
and damask diaper (Sotheby’s 1995). Leopold had the panel
depicting the Virgin in an aureole by the Helmle brothers,
which had been presented to him on his accession to power
by the city of Freiburg, installed in the study window, as well
as a family portrait executed by Helmle of Leopold with his
Fig. 6 Casements with leaded tracery
from the study at Neueberstein, with a
four‑part Passion cycle and Swiss panels
of the sixteenth century. (Unknown private
collection)
RHA 03 three children in front of Zähringen Castle, a birthday gift
from Margrave Wilhelm von Baden in 1833.
The neighbouring bedroom was decorated with copper
etchings and stained glass. Heraldic panels were again set on
a blue‑damask ground in four pointed‑arch lancets [fig. 7]
(Patrimonia 2003, 21). 7 Among the Swiss panels here there
were old armorials of the Baden margraves, which Leopold
clearly acquired purposely. Attention should also be drawn
to the foliate quatrefoils in the arches of these arrangements:
these remants from the high Middle Ages stem from the
choir of the Cistercian nuns’ conventual church in Lichtenthal,
from where there also survive two donor panels, with
Margrave Rudolf I von Baden and his wife Kunigunde von
Eberstein, and Rudolf II, of fourteenth‑century date. These
pieces in particular must have been of great importance to
Leopold. Since he was a descendant of Margravin Irmengard
von Baden, who founded the convent, he had the donor
panels given up to him (Becksmann 1986, 3‑9). The archduke
subsequently contracted the Freiburg glass‑painters to place
the pieces in settings according to designs by Krieg von
Hochfelden [fig. 8]. Yet it is remarkable that it was precisely
these panels that were not exhibited at Neueberstein, even
though they constituted pictorial proof for the historical ties
between the Eberstein counts and the Baden margraves, and
do in fact represent the earliest depiction of the margraves.
Perhaps the Baden Revolution of 1848‑49, during the
course of which irregular troops plundered Neueberstein,
thwarted Leopold’s plans. The sovereign, who had fled into
exile, called for help on his old friend Friedrich Wilhelm IV,
who had the revolution put down extremely brutally. What
bedfellows sensitive Romantic reverie and bloody terror
40 DOSSIER
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Fig. 7 Lancet from the Leopold von
Baden’s bedroom at Neueberstein, with
seventeenth‑century heraldic panels, and
fourteenth‑century foliate quatrefoil from
the convent at Lichtenthal. (Karlsruhe,
Badisches Landesmuseum)
The coloured glazing of the bedroom
came via the art trade to the Badisches
Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe; see Sotheby’s
1995, no. 420 and the illustration on p. 145.
7 RHA 03 41 DOSSIER Neueberstein Castle and ist Collection of Stained Glass
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Fig. 8 Donor panels from Lichtenthal:
Rudolf I von Baden with his wife
Kunigunde von Eberstein, and Rudolf II,
early fourteenth century with modern
setting of c.1850. (Karlsruhe, Badisches
Landesmuseum)
were! Leopold apparently did not recover from these
subversive events and died in 1852. 8
Leopold’s Acquisition Strategies
It is evident that Leopold’s outstanding social position was
the deciding factor in his acquisition of such important
medieval stained glass. If the parochial authorities in
Ottersweier and Dühren relinquished their church windows
as gifts ‘of their own free will’, that can only be the official
understanding of the situation: one was not supposed
to oppose the wishes of the lord of the land. In one of
these cases, Leopold was able to call on historical legal
precedent that designated him the actual owner of the
glass. In other places, the creation of schemes in stained
glass proceeded with considerably less sensitivity, as was
the case for example with the landgraves of Hessen and
the glass acquired for the newly erected Löwenburg at
Schloss Wilhelmshöhe. There a ministerial edict of 1824
allowed the court building authority simply to take valuable
panels for itself. Occasionally this happened without
provision being made for the necessary replacement glass
— affected parishes had to celebrate mass in winter without
anything filling their window openings (Parello 2008,
27, 280‑282). Unlike Hessen to the north, the market in
German areas in the south‑west was extremely competitive.
Of quantitively greater importance here was the vast number
of commodities resulting from the secularization of the
former monasteries that passed into private ownership. The
new owner of St. Blasien, the industrialist David Seligmann,
received several offers for the stained glass of his church.
(In Freiburg the authorities wanted to acquire works of art
8 These panels, which were later displayed in
the castle at Baden, were supposed to have
disappeared during the Second World War,
but they reappeared in Baden‑Baden in 1995
and were finally acquired by the Badisches
Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe.
RHA 03 42 DOSSIER Neueberstein Castle and ist Collection of Stained Glass
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in order to fill the gaps in the windows of the Minster.) In
the end however it was Archduke Ludwig’s bid that was
accepted, almost certainly because Seligmann hoped to gain
further advantages from his business partner of many years
standing.
Leopold can hardly have experienced any difficulty in
purchasing Swiss panels — the majority of the glazing of
Staufenberg Castle consists of such pieces — since the
trade in these works flourished in the early nineteenth
century, as has been shown (Wyss 1826, 78). On his travels
to Italy, Leopold frequently spent time in Switzerland,
where he called on art dealers many a time. This is relayed
in the entries in his diaries, where he declared himself
enthused by the stained glass of the arsenal in Lucerne
and enthralled by the stained glass in the abbey church
at Königsfelden (Schneider 1958, 413, 429, 434f.). In Milan,
he specifically sought out the workshop of a glass‑painter
who had supposedly developed a new procedure for the
production of stained glass — by which Leopold was not
however convinced. Yet he did purchase from the same two
illustrations after lithographs of Water Scott’s novel Ivanhoe.
During his time in power, Leopold succeeded in acquiring
a considerable amount of stained glass, in fact more than
sufficient to furnish his residences and dynastic memorial.
After his death, superfluous pieces were put in storage,
constituting a stock on which his son Friedrich was able
to draw when he came to furnish Mainau Castle on Lake
Constance with stained glass, in the tradition established by
his father [fig. 9] (Patrimonia 2003, 19‑88).
It counts as a fortunate coincidence that at precisely this
early period there were already glass‑painters in Freiburg
who had the high artistic aspirations and the technical
knowledge necessary to serve Leopold’s visions. Their
particular accomplishments may be appreciated if one
compares their work with the earlier glazing at Staufenburg
Castle; this exhibits the previous fashion in which old
panels were displayed, arranged with coloured glasses in a
kaleidoscopic manner to produce a characterful chromatic
light play [fig. 10] (Parello and Vaassen 2000, 60f.).
Through his targeted acquisition strategy, Leopold
succeeded in bringing a huge number of historical
works of art to Neueberstein, which together with newly
created commissioned pieces formed a noteworthy
Gesamtkunstwerk to the glorification of the dynasty’s past. In
this ensemble at Neueberstein one can certainly detect the
kernel of the later Residenzmuseum of the Baden archdukes,
which opened its doors in Karlsruhe in 1846. Although parts
of the latter collection had already been removed from
Neueberstein at an earlier point, it is a matter for regret
that when the deplorable sale of the Baden margraves’
art collections took place in 1995 the Baden‑Württemberg
region, in collaboration with the Office for the Preservation
of Monuments, did not jump at the chance to acquire an
edifice that is unique for Baden in its way, and to reconstruct
carefully the collection of the Leopoldine era. Located near
the cultural centre of Baden‑Baden, Neueberstein Castle
could have been become a beautiful visitor attraction.
Fig. 9 Casement from Mainau Castle with
medieval stained glass from Dühren (Man
of Sorrows) and other panels. (Karlsruhe,
Badisches Landesmuseum and Stuttgart,
Württembergisches Landesmuseum)
Fig. 10 Casement from Staufenberg Castle,
Durbach: heraldic panel and fragments
of the seventeenth century and c.1832.
(Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmuseum)
RHA 03 44 DOSSIER Neueberstein Castle and ist Collection of Stained Glass
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Schorns Kunstblatt 7: 77‑85.
JAMES JACKSON
JARVES: COLLECTING
VENETIAN GLASS
FOR AMERICA
Abstract
RESUMO
James Jackson Jarves (1818-1888) assembled one of the finest
museum collections of Venetian glass in the United States.
In advocating for art museums in America, Jarves urged that
individuals of means and knowledge should undertake the
formation of collections for public benefit. In 1881, Jarves’
doctrine was put into practice when he gifted nearly 300 works
of Venetian glass to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With only
five percent of Jarves’ collection now on display, it is one of the
aims of this paper to reassert the legacy of collectors like Jarves.
As such, this study also will illuminate an increased interest in
the applied arts, the dichotomy between hand-crafted and massproduced goods, and the revival of the Venetian glass industry.
James Jackson Jarves (1818-1888) reuniu uma das melhores
coleções museológicas de vidro veneziano nos Estados Unidos.
Na defesa dos museus de arte na América, Jarves incitou a que
indivíduos com meios e conhecimentos deveriam empreender a
formação de coleções para benefício público. Em 1881, a doutrina
de Jarves foi posta em prática aquando da sua doação de cerca
de 300 obras de vidro veneziano ao Metropolitan Museum of
Art. Com apenas cinco por cento da coleção Jarves agora em
exposição, um dos objetivos deste artigo é reafirmar o legado
de colecionadores como Jarves. Como tal, este estudo irá
também ilustrar um aumento do interesse nas artes aplicadas,
a dicotomia entre bens produzidos em massa e bens artesanais,
e o renascimento da indústria de vidro veneziano.
Keywords
James Jackson Jarves | Venetian-revival glass | Metropolitan
Museum of Art | mass-production | cut glass
Palavras-chave
James Jackson Jarves | Revivalismo de Vidro Veneziano |
Metropolitan Museum of Art | produção em massa | vidro
lapidado
A n n M a r i e Gl a ss c o c k
Department of Art History and
Material Culture, University of
Wisconsin‑Madison, USA
RHA 03 46 DOSSIER JAMES JACKSON JARVES: COLLECTING VENETIAN GLASS FOR AMERICA
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…Venetian is unlike all other glass. Its highest merit and
greatest value consist in its virtually being incapable
of being used for other purposes than to administer to
the human craving for beauty, perfections, the supreme
aesthetic ideal of the moment, restless, ever‑changing, and
never‑satisfied, because beauty is rooted in the infinite
(Jarves 1882, 187).
J
ames Jackson Jarves (1818‑1888), American art critic,
collector, and Vice‑Consul in Florence, assembled one of
the finest museum collections of Venetian glass in the United
States. In advocating for art museums in nineteenth‑century
America, Jarves urged that individuals of means and
knowledge should undertake the formation of collections for
public benefit “rather than simply to acquire and hoard for
private pride or enjoyment” (Jarves 1882, 179). He believed
that the display of such collections in museums would make
art accessible to the wider public, and in turn the country
would benefit by actively helping to cultivate the tastes and
knowledge of its citizens. Museum collections exercised a
powerful influence on the development of style and taste in
the late nineteenth century, and they provided an education
in the arts — something that Jarves felt the United States
desperately needed.
Having survived the Civil War, and amidst labor unrest,
unregulated urban growth, and anxieties about identity, the
United States transformed into a prosperous new nation,
and for the first time, major cities consciously asserted
themselves as international tastemakers. New York City, for
example, became America’s cultural capital, and it achieved
a heightened level of sophistication in painting, sculpture,
and decorative arts. “Not only was there a desire to display
wealth and social prestige [in the private sector], but there
was a sense of moral obligation to inform and educate the
public as to what was good, beautiful, and in correct taste”
(Pilgrim 1979, 111).
Adding to America’s cultural capital, Jarves’ doctrine
was put into practice in 1881 when he gifted nearly 300
works of Venetian glass to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York City. In organizing his collection of glass for
the Metropolitan, Jarves deliberately set out to add to the
young nation’s “aesthetic capital” by making art accessible
to the American public (McNab 1960, 91). The collection
consists of a wide variety of vessels and decorative forms
from the Renaissance, as seen in a delicate tazza from the
sixteenth century, to such revivalist glass of the nineteenth
century as a deep cobalt goblet from Salviati and Company,
richly enameled by Leopoldo Bearzotti around 1868
[figs. 1 and 2]. As such, Jarves believed that of all the
people to have made glass, the Venetians, for artistic variety
and quality, were the most renowned.
With only five percent of the Jarves collection now on
display at the Metropolitan, it is one of the aims of this
paper to reassert the legacy of collectors like Jarves whose
ambition was to make art accessible to broader audiences.
Much of the literature on this American art critic, and in fact
most of the works written by Jarves, focus on architecture
and fine art, notably his collection of Italian primitives, now
in the Yale University Art Gallery. Drawing attention to the
decorative arts and to Jarves’ Art Thoughts, particularly
Fig. 1 Tazza, Italian, Venice (Murano),
second half 16 th century, glass, H: 9.5 cm.
Accession Number: 81.8.133
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of
James Jackson Jarves, 1881
Fig. 2 Goblet, Salviati and Co., Italian,
Venice (Murano), enameled by Leopoldo
Bearzotti (active 1868–80), ca. 1868, glass,
H: 21.3 cm.
Accession Number: 81.8.240
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of
James Jackson Jarves, 1881
RHA 03 48 DOSSIER JAMES JACKSON JARVES: COLLECTING VENETIAN GLASS FOR AMERICA
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the chapter on “Minor Arts — Ornament and Decoration,”
this study aims to illuminate the increased interest in the
applied arts, the dichotomy between hand‑crafted and
mass‑produced goods, and the revival of the Venetian glass
industry.
Venetian glass, especially that of the revivalist idiom,
functions as an important genre of artifacts. They reflect
and reinforce many of the ideas and concerns of the 1800s
and remind us of the calamities that affected the Venetian
Republic at the turn of the nineteenth century. After
decades of being under the control of French and Austrian
governments, Venice became part of the Kingdom of Italy in
1866. With the glass industry severely weakened, Venetian
glass, therefore, stands for the survival and revival of a
community — a community that emerged enthusiastically to
recover the history and glory of its past.
During the Renaissance, the production of Venetian glass
was a successful enterprise; yet unfavorable economic and
political conditions in Europe led to its decline in the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The Republic lost
its independence to the French in the spring of 1797 when
Napoleon conquered Venice. This was followed by several
months as a democratic municipality and the first period of
Austrian rule, when the Veneto was ceded to the Hapsburgs
in the Treaty of Campo Formio, 17 October 1797 (Dorigato
2003, 172). Next came the annexation of Venice to the
Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1806 and a second Hapsburg
occupation from 1814‑1866, briefly interrupted by the
Venetian rebellion of 1848‑1849. Following the Third Italian
War of Independence, Venice became part of the Kingdom
of Italy.
The fall of the Republic confirmed the end of Venice’s
political and social balance, and it also led to the collapse of
the city’s economic prosperity (Mentasti 2010, xiii). Between
Austrian and French rule, the local market, including the
glass industry, was increasingly impaired. This was in part
a result of the abolishment of the glassmakers’ guilds by
Napoleon, particularly of the Arte dei Vetrai in 1807. The
guilds had protected and promoted the craft from both
an organizational and commercial standpoint (Barovier
2004, 9). To further the blow, heavy customs tariffs were
imposed on the import of raw materials, a measure designed
to protect the Austrian and Bohemian industries so that
foreign competitors could prosper (Barovier 2004, 10). By
1820, there were only 16 glassworks active on the Venetian
island of Murano, and only five were producing blown glass
(Dorigato 2003, 172). The number of furnaces dwindled as
did the glassblowers technical expertise. The glassmaking
industry survived, only partially, due to the production of
glass beads for European colonies — objects that the art
critic John Ruskin believed to be “utterly unnecessary”
as there was “no design or thought employed in their
manufacture” (Ruskin 1867, 166). The production process
was monotonous and alienated the maker from his work and
his product.
The second half of the nineteenth century, however, saw
the recovery of Venetian glass. Antonio Salviati, a lawyer
from Vicenza, was the entrepreneurial force behind the
revival of glassmaking in Venice. Interested in the restoration
of the mosaics of Saint Mark’s, Salviati set out to know the
few glassmakers in Venice still able to make glass tesserae
to replace those in the Basilica. Upon meeting the Muranese
RHA 03 49 DOSSIER JAMES JACKSON JARVES: COLLECTING VENETIAN GLASS FOR AMERICA
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glass artist Lorenzo Radi, Salviati set up a mosaic workshop
in 1859 giving him the task of manufacturing mosaic tiles and
himself that of marketing. Radi’s work with not only mosaics
but also chalcedonic glass fascinated Salviati, thus inspiring
his “Grand Vision” — a dream of once again firing up the
furnaces of Murano so that blown vessels could be sold to
connoisseurs and collectors in shops throughout the world
(Barr 1998, 19). According to Sheldon Barr, the ramifications
of Salviati’s exposure to Radi’s creations resulted in nothing
less than the revitalization of the entire blown‑glass industry
(Barr 1998, 19).
Continuing his promotion of Venetian glass, Salviati
exhibited his workshop’s mosaics at the International
Exhibition of 1862 in London to much acclaim, and he
received immediate commissions for such prominent
buildings and monuments as Westminster Abbey, Saint
Paul’s Cathedral, Windsor Castle, and the Albert Memorial
(Rudoe 2002, 308). Salviati’s glass also caught the attention
of the archaeologist Sir Austen Henry Layard, excavator of
the ruins of the Assyrian city of Nineveh. Like Salviati, Layard
was interested both in the revival of historic glass and in
the contemporary use of mosaics. After the Vento became
part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1866, foreign investment was
permitted, and soon Layard and others, such as the historian
William Drake, became shareholders in Salviati’s company
(Osborne 2002, 18).
In Venice, meanwhile, the antiquarian Abbot Vincenzo
Zanetti founded a school for glassmakers in 1861 with
the support of the island’s mayor Antonio Colleoni. An
associated museum, the Museo Artistico Industriale del Vetro
(later the Museo Vetrario), opened in 1864 (Rudoe 2002,
308). An important drive for the revival of glassmaking
in Venice was the foundation of the Museo Vetrario. Its
intention was to promote traditional Murano techniques
and to provide artists with direct access to examples
of Roman and Venetian glass (Edwards 1997, 40). This
collection of historic glass was assembled by Zanetti, and
it included examples of ancient glass found throughout
the Roman Empire, notably at a time when archaeological
discovery was popular. The collection also comprised
Renaissance glass donated by local Venetian families
(Osborne 2002, 15).
The opening of the museum, and the rising interest in
Venetian glass, prompted Salviati to turn his attention to
blown glass, and with the financial support of Henry Layard
and two of Layard’s associates, Lachlan Mackintosh Rate and
William Drake, he founded Salviati & Company in 1866. It had
storefronts on St. James’s Street, London, and Campo San
Vio, Venice (Rudoe 2002, 308). Such support is a reflection
of the renewed interest in Murano glass shown by foreign
markets.
The Venetian glass industry prospered once again, and
the city became a tourist destination. Wealthy travelers
stayed in its majestic hotels and many English and American
expatriates made Venice their permanent home (Mentasti
2010, xix). This most certainly was brought about by
industrialization and the subsequent growth of family
fortunes. As a result, numerous other glassworks were
opened in the last two decades of the nineteenth century
thanks to the growing interest and success of the Venetian
style. As production increased, Salviati glass was found in
shops in London, Paris, and New York. Tiffany & Company,
RHA 03 50 DOSSIER JAMES JACKSON JARVES: COLLECTING VENETIAN GLASS FOR AMERICA
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for example, stocked Salviati glass in its Fifth Avenue store in
New York City (Osborne 2002, 19).
Exposure in America increased in 1881 when New
York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art received the Jarves
collection of Venetian glass. Jarves, originally from
Boston, Massachusetts, moved to Paris in 1851 and settled
in Florence the following year. It was in Europe that
Jarves became passionate in his desire to fill American
museums with European art. Upon moving to Florence,
he began collecting the Italian primitives for which he is
most known.
Aside from his own personal interests, Jarves was
instrumental in advising other American collectors
in their purchases of Italian art. In 1880, for example,
Jarves persuaded Cornelius Vanderbilt, a trustee of the
Metropolitan, to purchase from him a collection of old master
drawings and present it to the Museum (Rudoe 2002, 312).
These arrangements put Jarves in contact with the Museum’s
Director, Louis Palma di Cesnola. On March 30, 1881, he
wrote to Cesnola from Florence regarding his collection of
Venetian glass:
The glass was accepted, and as an expression of gratitude,
on motion from Vanderbilt, Jarves was elected as a Patron of
the Museum (Steegmuller 1951, 276).
On July 3, 1881, Jarves wrote to tell of the packing and
dispatch of the glass from Livorno, and by this time the
collection had grown significantly. Correspondence between
Jarves and Cesnola indicates that between January and July
1881, it grew from 80 to 280 pieces (Rudoe 2002, 312). When
Jarves writes of the collection in Harper’s New Monthly, he
discusses its breadth:
My dear Sir,
I have been preaching to others to give to the Museum,
& now I would like to practise, in a humble way…what I wish
I was able to do on a large scale. Recalling to you what I
wrote Mar. 15th regarding the collection of about 200 pieces
of old Venetian glass, & the offer of a gentleman to buy
it for 50,000 francs to give to the Museum, I would now
state that I propose to make it my own personal gift…
(Steegmuller 1951, 276).
Through his correspondence with Alexander Nesbitt, then
a keeper at the South Kensington Museum in London and
author of the Catalogue of the Collection of Glass Formed
by Felix Slade (1871) and A Descriptive Catalogue of the
Glass Vessels in the South Kensington Museum (1878),
Jarves was able to procure some glass for his collection
from Abbot Zanetti, founder of the Museo Vetrario. These
objects consisted of “a selection of the most interesting and
oldest pieces, of the duplicates and types therein preserved”
Chance at first threw in my way a few specimens of
the earlier Venetian glass. These suggested the idea
of attempting to obtain a sufficient number to fairly
illustrate the various types which have given celebrity
to Venice in this line from the fourteenth century to the
nineteenth inclusive, representing, as far as possible, its
mediaeval rise, its best and most nourishing period of the
later Renaissance, its gradual changes and decline at the
extinction of the Republic by Napoleon I, and the revival of
the art in our own time (Jarves 1882, 177).
RHA 03 51 DOSSIER JAMES JACKSON JARVES: COLLECTING VENETIAN GLASS FOR AMERICA
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Fig. 3 Bowl, Venezia-Murano Company,
Italian, Venice (Murano), ca. 1881, glass,
H: 9.8 cm, Diam: 28.9 cm.
Accession Number: 81.8.254
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of
James Jackson Jarves, 1881
(Jarves 1882, 177). Zanetti further writes that they “were
collected by me during ten years past and are genuine
and faithful representations of the Muranese ancient work”
(Jarves 1882, 187).
With regard to glass of the revivalist idiom, in June
Jarves wrote to Cesnola, “there are about 50 pieces
of the modern Salviati glass…” (Rudoe 2002, 312). Like
many of the decorative arts of the nineteenth century,
revivalist glass followed the aesthetic of the historicist
style, in this case capturing the glory of Venice’s past.
As a result, Venetian revival glass looked to Roman and
Medieval models as well as Renaissance and Baroque
forms. The imitation of ancient vessels is evident in a bowl
from the Jarves collection made by the Venezia‑Murano
Company, ca. 1881 [fig. 3]. A comparison with an unusual
Roman gold‑band mosaic drinking cup, made from fused
canes of blue, green, brown, and white mosaic glass
surrounding bands of gold leaf, reveals and underscores
the area’s long history of excellence in the production
of glass [fig. 4].
Not wanting to neglect the important contributions
of his own day, Jarves intended that the revivalist glass
would form a nucleus of the collection. Although Venetian
glass of the nineteenth century imitated earlier styles,
glassblowers profited from advances in glass chemistry,
and they were able to produce more dramatic and richer
colors. They also captured the nineteenth‑century desire
for overembellishment, therefore giving insight into the
era’s sense of style and taste. Glassblowers, for example,
incorporated elaborate and difficult zoomorphic forms
into their work including dolphins, dragons, seahorses, and
serpents [figs. 5 and 6]. Overall, the Jarves gift reveals a
diverse array of styles and provides a strong representation
of the revivalist idiom.
Fig. 4 Gold-band mosaic glass scyphus
(drinking cup), Roman, Early Imperial,
late 1st century B.C.-early 1st century A.D.,
glass (cast and cut), H: 11.5 cm, W: 25 cm,
Diam: 18 cm.
Accession Number: 91.1.2053
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Edward
C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C.
Moore, 1891
Fig. 5 Vessel in the shape of
a sea horse, Compagnia di
Venezia e Murano (C.V.M.),
(1877-1919), Italian, Venice
(Murano), 1885, glass,
H: 26.7 cm, W: 16.9 cm,
Diam: 12.7 cm.
Accession Number: 2002.3.21
The Corning Museum of Glass
Fig. 6 Serpent or dragon,
Salviati, Italian, Venice
(Murano), about 1870-1880,
glass, H: 20.9 cm.
Accession Number: 52.3.34
The Corning Museum of Glass
RHA 03 54 DOSSIER JAMES JACKSON JARVES: COLLECTING VENETIAN GLASS FOR AMERICA
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The Jarves collection also acts as a starting point
for future gifts of Venetian glass to the Metropolitan,
an institution whose foundation contributed to the
preservation and awareness of America’s past, present, and
future. Desiring a cultural expression of their new power,
wealthy Americans developed “a taste for European art
and enthusiastically imported it to provide a stamp of
sophistication and respectability for themselves” (Weinberg
1976, 1). In turn, many of these works came to form the core
collections in American museums such as the Metropolitan.
Following Jarves’ lead were Henry G. Marquand, an
American financier, philanthropist and collector, and Edward
C. Moore, artistic director of Tiffany & Co.’s silver studio
and chief designer. Their collections of European glass,
and other works of art, entered the Museum in 1883 and
1891 respectively. Such actions point to the admiration of
Venetian glass from a connoisseur and collector’s standpoint.
In Britain, however, reformers were passionate about
the medium and its production for additional reasons. The
Venetian revival involved more than the recovery of the
glassmaking industry and the creation of beautiful works of
art. For British reformers, John Ruskin and William Morris,
the enthusiasm for early Venetian glass had a moral basis
(Reflections of Venice 1986, 3). Both Ruskin and Morris
felt it “represented the only legitimate approach to the
manufacture of glass and that unless there was a return to
these principles which had governed Venetian glass in its
heyday, nothing beautiful could ever be produced” (Klein
2000, 183). As Dan Klein duly notes: “Venetian glass for
them was a philosophy, not just a decorative style” (Klein
2000, 183). British reformers deplored the tastelessness
of mass‑produced glass, and they believed that artistry
and grace could grow only from the workman’s respect for
his materials. Creative physical labor, that is the worker’s
intimate familiarity with his craft, was one of Ruskin’s basic
principles (Osborne 2002, 17).
In Ruskin’s influential text, The Stones of Venice, he writes
of an excursion to Murano and the prevailing glass industry.
Here he belittles mass‑production, and much of the glass
of the Victorian era, stating that: “Our modern glass is
exquisitely clear in its substance, true in its form, accurate in
its cutting. We are proud of this. We ought to be ashamed of
it” (Ruskin 1867, 168). He goes on to say that “…all cut glass is
barbarous: for the cutting conceals its ductility, and confuses
it with crystal” (Ruskin 1867, 392). He continues by arguing
against its perfection and precision — glass was meant to be
blown into imaginative forms, “the more wild, extravagant,
and grotesque in their gracefulness…the better” (Ruskin 1867,
392). Taking these ideas into consideration, he asks buyers of
cut glass to choose whether they will make the worker a man
or a grindstone (Ruskin 1867, 168). Ruskin, therefore, finds
humanity in Venetian glass, and he praises its imperfections,
its inventiveness, and its ability to connect the artist with his
craft.
Jarves, an acquaintance and follower of Ruskin, whose
books The Stones of Venice and The Seven Lamps of
Architecture influenced the beginning of his studies,
found truth in Ruskin’s writings and added further to his
discussion (McNab 1960, 97). Jarves found that the modern
age “holds to cheapening and multiplying articles, rather
than to their artistic worth. Hence its productive energies
tend to substitute mechanical for aesthetic excellence,
RHA 03 55 DOSSIER JAMES JACKSON JARVES: COLLECTING VENETIAN GLASS FOR AMERICA
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and to employ machinery in place of fingers. Everywhere
we meet lifeless repetitions of the emasculated ancient,
or wearisome ones of modern invention, manufactured,
rather than MADE…” (Jarves 1869, 322). We again return
to the estrangement of the worker from the product and a
decrease in artistry.
Like Ruskin and Jarves, when Charles Locke Eastlake
(1836‑1906), nineteenth‑century architect and furniture
designer, came to the subject of modern glass in his famous
treatise, Hints on Household Taste, he dismissed British and
Bohemian glass in favor of the superior virtues he perceived
to be found in Venetian glass (Edwards 1997, 37). He also
advocated that it had the ability to advance public taste,
and it served as an example of what constituted good
art (Eastlake 1874, 137). Eastlake, therefore, encouraged
the purchase of Venetian glass proclaiming that even the
smallest example “should be acquired whenever possible,
and treasured with the greatest care” (Eastlake 1874, 136).
Venetian glass illustrated good design and skill that was
absent in cut glass. Overall, both Eastlake and Ruskin
considered cut glass contrary to the medium’s nature; it
was devoid of fluidity and creativity (Edwards 1997, 40). On
a humorous note, the Egyptologist and architect Somers
Clarke deplored the prevailing fashion for cut glass, noting
that it was nothing more than “a massive lump of misshapen
material better suited to the purpose of braining a burglar
than decorating a table…” (Clarke 1903, 108). All of the above
provides a glimpse of the era’s issues surrounding taste,
design, and individuality.
Jarves gives his own opinion on the subject in his book
Art Thoughts. In his chapter on the minor arts, he takes a
less‑biased view of mass‑produced glass but certainly favors
the hand‑crafted product in the end. On cut, engraved, and
colored glass, he believes that it excels in “transparency,
polish, outline, and lucidity of design, — mere mechanical
excellences; and we meet, as in all other ornament, a
wearisome repetition of the same patterns and styles, each
the exact counterpart of the other, to satisfy the modern
desire to have sets of objects” (Jarves 1869, 335). This idea
of sets also was mentioned by William Morris who attacked
the makers of cut glass, and criticized the working methods
of the British glass industry, which demanded that each glass
should be identical (Klein 2000, 183).
Yet from an economic standpoint, table services,
homogenous in all pieces, from various‑sized glasses to
other vessels, were relatively inexpensive and less intricate
than the handcrafted product, and they perfectly satisfied
the demand of the emerging middle class (Mentasti 1992,
12). Ironically, Jarves’ father Deming, was the founder of
the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, an enterprise
that flourished from the mass‑production of cut and
pressed‑glass tableware such as the pitcher and vase
seen in figures seven and eight [figs. 7 and 8]. By the
mid‑nineteenth century, Deming Jarves estimated that
American factories had up to two million dollars invested in
pressing machinery and molds alone (Scoville 1944, 204).
Production required unskilled labor and as a result tableware
was offered at a moderate price. Venetian glass was often
too expensive and fragile to meet the needs of the general
public while the pressed‑glass wares were inexpensive,
offered in a variety of colors and patterns, and satisfied the
demands of the middle class (Frelinghuysen 1986, 246).
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Fig. 7 Pitcher, Boston & Sandwich Glass
Company (New England, Sandwich,
Massachusetts, United States, 1825‑1888),
ca. 1843-67, blown and cut glass,
H: 22.9 cm, Diam: 14 cm.
Accession Number: 67.7.20
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Funds
from various donors, 1967
Fig. 8 Celery vase, attributed to Boston
& Sandwich Glass Company (New England,
Sandwich, Massachusetts, United States,
1825-1888), 1827–35, pressed glass,
H: 18.6 cm, Diam: 11.6 cm.
Accession Number: 1986.237
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mr.
and Mrs. Paul Greenwood Gift, 1986
According to Jarves, however, modern cut‑ and pressedglass failed in comparison with the older and lighter forms
of Venetian glass in its clarity, depth of color, variety, and
creative tours de force (Jarves 1882, 185). In 1882, he wrote:
The highest aim of the Venetian artist was to overlook
prosaic utility entirely in his glass; to invent something
so bizarre, ethereal, light, imaginative, or so splendid,
fascinating, and original in combinations of colors and
design, as to captivate both the senses and understanding,
and lead them rejoicing into far‑away regions of the
possibilities of an ideal existence; in fine, to bind the
material captive to the intellectual in art, even when
administering to the vanities of life and grosser calls of
nature (Jarves 1882, 187).
Whether or not he was influenced by the production
methods and output of his father’s glass firm, Jarves
strongly believed in the principles and beauty behind
Venetian glass.
In conclusion, it hopefully has become evident that
the Jarves gift of Venetian glass serves as not a static
collection but as an active portal into nineteenth‑century
art, industrialization, taste, and criticism. It also is an
indispensable study of the era’s reception of glass and
the dichotomy between hand‑crafted and mass‑produced
goods. Finally, it is a way to remember the passion of
early museum donors such as James Jackson Jarves and
those that followed in his pursuit of bringing beauty and
knowledge to the American public.
57 DOSSIER JAMES JACKSON JARVES: COLLECTING VENETIAN GLASS FOR AMERICA
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American Renaissance, 1876‑1917, 111‑51. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum.
Plant, Margaret. 2002. Venice: Fragile City, 1797‑1997. New Haven and London:
Yale University Press.
Reflections of Venice: The Influence of Venetian Glass in Victorian England,
1840‑1900. 1986. Manchester: Whitworth Art Gallery, University of
Manchester.
Rudoe, Judy. 2002. “‘Reproductions of the Christian Glass of the Catacombs’:
James Jackson Jarves and the Revival of the Art of Glass in Venice.”
Metropolitan Museum Journal 37: 305‑14.
Ruskin, John. 1867. The Stones of Venice: The Sea Stories. Volume II. Second
Edition. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
Scoville, Warren C. 1944. “Growth of the American Glass Industry to 1880.”
Journal of Political Economy 52: 193‑216.
Sizer, Theodore. 1933. “James Jackson Jarves: A Forgotten New Englander.”
The New England Quarterly 6: 328‑352.
Steegmuller, Francis. 1951. The Two Lives of James Jackson Jarves. New Haven:
Yale University Press.
Weinberg, H. Barbara. 1976. Introduction to Art Thoughts: The Experiences
and Observations of an American Amateur in Europe, edited by H. Barbara
Weinberg. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc.
Wilson, Richard Guy. 1979. “Periods and Organizations.” In The American
Renaissance, 1876‑1917, 62‑72. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum.
———. 1979. “Presence of the Past.” In The American Renaissance, 1876‑1917,
38‑61. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum.
Wood, Grace, and Emily Burbank. 1919. The Art of Interior Decoration. New York:
Dodd, Mead and Company.
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how to
display?
Stained Glass and
the (Re‑) Creation
of an Ideal Past.
The Mayer van den Bergh
Collection in Antwerp
around 1900
Abstract
resumo
The Mayer van den Bergh Museum in Antwerp, Belgium, contains
a fine collection of stained-glass panels, mainly Southern
Netherlandish roundels from the Early Modern period. As an
internationally active private collector in the late nineteenth
century, Fritz Mayer van den Bergh (1858-1901) maintained
close contacts with art dealers, museum professionals and
other private collectors from various European countries. In the
eventual museum, the collector’s mother Henriëtte van den Bergh
(1838‑1920) integrated the stained-glass panels into the decorative
scheme of its historicizing interiors. This article explores Fritz and
Henriëtte Mayer van den Bergh’s collecting and display strategies,
traces their underlying motivations, and reconstructs the function
historical stained glass served within the overall conception of
the museum. It will distinguish the Catholic social networks and
neo-Gothic philosophy of the Mayer van den Bergh family as their
major incentive. The appendix provides a complete catalogue of
the Mayer van den Bergh collection of stained glass.
O Museu de Mayer van den Bergh em Antuérpia, na Bélgica,
contém uma bela coleção de vitrais, principalmente rondeis do
sul da Holanda, do início do período Moderno. Como colecionador
privado ativo ao nível internacional no final do século xix, Fritz
Mayer van den Bergh (1858-1901) manteve contatos próximos
com negociantes de arte, profissionais de museus e outros
colecionadores privados de vários países europeus. A mãe do
colecionador, Henriëtte van den Bergh (1838-1920), integrou os
painéis de vitral no esquema decorativo do interior historicizante
deste museu. Este artigo explora as estratégias colecionistas e
de exibição de Fritz e Henriëtte Mayer van den Bergh, localiza
as motivações subjacentes e reconstrói a função que os vitrais
históricos terão servido dentro da conceção geral do museu. Irão
destacar-se as redes sociais católicas e a filosofia neogóticas da
família Mayer van den Bergh como os seus principais incentivos.
O apêndice fornece um catálogo completo da coleção de vitrais
Mayer van den Bergh.
Keywords
Private Collecting | Integrated display | Historicism | Belgian
neo-Gothic movement | Catholic Revival
Palavras-Chave
Colecionismo Privado | Exposição integrada | Historicismo
| Movimento Belga Neogótico | Revivalismo Católico
Ul r i k e M ü ll e r
Ghent University/University of Antwerp
(Joint PhD Candidate)
RHA 03 Introduction
he Mayer van den Bergh Museum in Antwerp, Belgium,
is well known for its outstanding collection of late
medieval and Early Modern fine and decorative arts, most
notably perhaps for Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s famous Dulle
Griet (Mad Mag). But the museum also owns a fine and
well‑preserved collection of 44 stained‑glass panels, most
of them Southern Netherlandish roundels from the fifteenth
to the seventeenth centuries, brought together by Fritz
Mayer van den Bergh (1858‑1901) between the early 1880s
and 1901. 1
After the premature death of the collector, his mother
Henriëtte van den Bergh (1838‑1920) created the Mayer van
den Bergh Museum to fulfill the dream that both mother
and son had nourished. The museum presents paintings,
sculptures, antiques and decorative arts side by side and
in close relation to each other. From the very first, the
stained‑glass collection was integrated into the existing
windows, thereby functioning as a distinctive element
within the historicizing exhibition rooms. Although the
arrangement of the objects was frequently altered over the
years, the museum emanates the personal atmosphere of a
turn‑of‑the‑century private collection until the present day,
with the majority of the stained‑glass windows still being an
integral part of the museum display.
The Mayer van den Bergh collection of stained glass
lends itself to examining the artistic taste, methodological
approach and underlying motivations of its owners. As such
it can serve as a representative case study of the practice
of gathering and using stained glass in the private context
in late‑nineteenth‑century Europe. This article therefore
T
60 DOSSIER Stained Glass and the (Re‑) Creation of an Ideal Past
focuses on Fritz and Henriëtte Mayer van den Bergh’s
collecting and display strategies of historical stained glass.
On the basis of archival material and the earliest published
museum catalogues, it will map where Fritz acquired stained
glass and examine the objects’ presentation in Henriëtte’s
museological concept. It will then trace the family’s
motivations and aims by means of analyzing their social
networks, political and religious convictions. By doing so, it
is the intention to shed new light onto the function of stained
glass in the conception of the museum, and on the role the
family’s personal, philosophical and ideological world‑view
played therein.
Fritz and Henriëtte Mayer van den Bergh
Fritz Mayer was born in Antwerp in 1858 as the oldest son of
Emil Mayer (1824‑1879) and Henriëtte van den Bergh. Fritz’
father was of German origin and one of Antwerp’s foremost
businessmen who had established the Belgian branch of the
Cologne family business in spices and pharmaceuticals in
1849. Henriëtte was the daughter of the eminent Antwerp
businessman and politician Jean van den Bergh (1807‑1885),
who had played a leading role in the Antwerp city council
during the 1860s, as a Catholic alderman for the Meeting
Party (Heylen and D’hondt 2009).
Fritz Mayer grew up in a wealthy, aristocratic and cultured
environment, with Henriëtte being the greatest influence on
his emerging love for the arts (de Coo 1979, 7‑8). Destined
for a diplomatic career, he studied Literature, Philosophy
and Law at Ghent University from 1877 onwards. But when
his father died in 1879, he abandoned his studies and
moved back into the Antwerp family residence in the Lange
1 30 silver‑stained roundels and unipartite
panels from the Mayer van den Bergh
Museum are published, according to the
criteria of the Corpus Vitrearum, in Berserik
and Caen 2007, 14‑35. A complete catalogue
of the collection is published here for the first
time, see appendix.
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RHA 03 Gasthuisstraat 21, the neighboring house of the present‑day
museum. He dismissed the career plans and left the business
to his younger brother Oscar. From that moment on, he
dedicated himself entirely to his passion for art collecting,
enthusiastically assisted by his mother. On frequent travels
they visited museums, auctions, art dealers and collectors all
over Europe. Their shared interest strengthened their already
tight personal bonds enormously. Fritz would never marry,
but in 1887 he added Henriëtte’s last name to his, from now
on calling himself Mayer van den Bergh.
With the help of his mother Fritz Mayer van den Bergh
was able to build up a most varied collection of more than
3.000 works of fine and decorative art from all periods, but
with a marked preference for late medieval sculptures and
early Netherlandish paintings, furniture, textiles as well as
stained glass from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries.
To extend his collection and his knowledge about it, Fritz
established connections with national and international
connoisseurs, art historians, dealers and other collectors.
Among these were for instance Max Friedländer and Wilhelm
Bode in Berlin.
Fritz Mayer van den Bergh’s sensitive and intelligent
character reflected itself in his collection. A subtle esthete
and an “Artiste dans l’âme” (Catalogue 1933, v), he adored
the art from the Middle Ages, “when the artists sought
to represent the soul rather than the body”, and he was
fascinated by the piety and mysticism they emanated. His
study in the parental home, where a part of his collection
was kept during his lifetime, resembled “a small and delicate
sanctuary that allowed the visitor to forget the time”
(Delbeke 1904, 8‑9). 2
61 DOSSIER Stained Glass and the (Re‑) Creation of an Ideal Past
Putting an abrupt end to his prolific collecting activity,
Fritz Mayer van den Bergh died in 1901 after a horse riding
accident. After his death it was Henriëtte who arranged for
the preservation of the collection. She commissioned the
Antwerp architect Joseph Hertogs to design the museum
building in the style of a sixteenth‑century townhouse.
The museum officially opened in December 1904. In 1906,
Henriëtte bequeathed the collection and building together
with an endowment to a Board of Trustees (Raad van
Regenten), thus guaranteeing its preservation as a private
museum (Baisier and Müller 2013, 157). Until her death in
1920, Henriëtte played an important role in the management
of the museum and the edition of the first catalogues. Her
effort to preserve the collection for the future reflects the
strong emotional attachment with which both mother and
son dedicated their lives to the arts.
International Connections and an Eye for Quality.
Methods of Collecting
With the extensive historical archives preserved in the
Mayer van den Bergh Museum — comprising more than
1.100 letters, invoices and receipts, 3 as well as a book
documenting the acquisitions made between 1879 and
1901 — researchers have at their disposal an exceptional
basis for investigations into the collector’s networks and
collecting strategies. The collection of stained glass is
well‑documented by archival material. From the 44 items,
the provenance and circumstances of acquisition of
23 pieces can be identified on the basis of the collector’s
correspondence and notes. Additionally, the archive
provides useful information about many more sellers and
2 “Ce qui le captivait surtout c’était l’art
ancien. Les tableaux et les sculptures du
moyen âge, où l’artiste cherche à peindre
et à modeler l’âme plutôt que le corps,
l’architecture ogivale, les miniatures
gothiques, tout cet admirable poëme de
prière, de piété, mysticisme et de souffrance
le jetait dans des ravissements. […] Son
cabinet de travail révélait l’homme: c’était
un délicieux petit sanctuaire où les œuvres
d’art les plus variées et les livres de choix
faisaient oublier à l’heureux visiteur la fuite
des heures.”
Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp,
Stukken betreffende de collectievorming.
Archival documents will in the following
be referred to as: addresser, date, MMB.A.
+ archive number. All letters, invoices and
receipts cited here are addressed to Fritz
Mayer van den Bergh.
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RHA 03 prices of stained‑glass objects of which the identification is
not possible.
Fritz Mayer van den Bergh acquired stained glass at
auctions as well as from art and antique dealers, private
persons and even directly from religious institutions in
Belgium and abroad. Most of the frequented dealers, agents
and collectors from which he purchased historical stained
glass also provided him with other art works, such as
paintings, sculpture or furniture.
The first identifiable acquisition of stained glass was at
the auction of the renowned Antwerp collection Van der
Straelen‑Moons‑Van Lerius (1884‑1886). At the sale of the
section “Antiques et objets d’art” in 1885, Mayer van den
Bergh acquired three lots of mainly religious and heraldic
stained‑glass panels for 286 Belgian francs, among which
the Sermon on the Mount, Sheltering strangers, Joseph of
Arimathea, and several coats of arms of the former Antwerp
clerics Marcus Cruyt, Gaspar Nemius and Balthazar Cruyt.
The collector’s correspondence reveals that he paid great
attention to the state of conservation of the desired objects.
After the successful acquisition of the three lots, the
Antwerp art dealer Charles Van Herck (Mayer’s intermediary
at the auction) informed him that three other pieces had not
been purchased because they were “modern” and “entirely
broken”, respectively. 4
It was not until the early 1890s that Fritz Mayer van den
Bergh significantly extended his stained‑glass collection.
Interestingly, his increased attention to stained glass
coincides with his changing taste after he resold a great
part of his so far gained antiques collection at two auctions
in 1891 and 1892 (de Coo 1979, 12). Not only was this
62 DOSSIER Stained Glass and the (Re‑) Creation of an Ideal Past
the moment when he shifted his focus to old paintings,
sculptures and decorative arts, but also when Fritz and
Henriëtte started to develop plans to create a private
museum.
In these years, Mayer van den Bergh acquired in rapid
succession an “early‑sixteenth‑century glass panel in
grisaille representing Saint Roch” from Madame Wéry in
Tongeren for 120 francs, 5 the Saint Barbara from the rectory
of Herk‑de‑Stad through the intermediary Germain Jaminé
from Hasselt for 200 francs, 6 the Saint Cornelius from Henri
Van Severen, an art and antiques dealer from Sint‑Niklaas
for 150 francs, 7 a “painting on glass representing the
Madonna at the tomb of Christ” from Steyaert in Bruges
for 55 francs, 8 and two roundels representing the Nativity
[fig. 1] and Daniel opposes the verdict against Suzanna,
together with three seventeenth‑century fragments at the
auction of the collection Camille Van Langenhove‑Biebuyck
in Aalst for 200 francs. 9 Other unidentifiable panels were
bought, especially between 1890 and 1896, from Pierre
Peeters, owner of an “atelier de sculpture religieuse” in
Antwerp, 10 Paul Dangis in Chokier, 11 and from many other
dealers and collectors in Antwerp, 12 Brussels 13 and Ghent. 14
At the same time Mayer van den Bergh had nine panels
repaired in the Antwerp atelier of Auguste Stalins and
Alfons Janssens. 15
At the international level, Mayer van den Bergh acquired
stained glass in Switzerland, France, the Netherlands and
Germany. The first was the so‑called Wappenscheibe von
Thomas von Schauenstein, purchased from Jacob Storz in
Chur in 1889. 16 Together with four other Swiss panels today
in the collection, this piece demonstrates that Mayer van
Letter Marie Van Herck (daughter of Charles
Van Herck), Antwerp, 3 June 1885: “[…] le
No 671 était moderne, le 674 et 677 étaient
entièrement brisés.” MMB.A.0013. (The pieces
that had not been acquired were a small
panel representing the Christ Child and two
sixteenth‑century roundels with the Death
and the Assumption of the Virgin, cf. Auct.
Cat. Van der Straelen‑Moons‑Van Lerius, Vol.
VIII, 54‑57). Cat. nos. 7, 9, 10, 13, 38, 42.
4 Book of acquisitions, 14 May 1890: “Vitrail
grisaille commencement XVI S. à St. Roch,
acheté chez Mme Wéry à Tongres — 120 fr.”
Although catalogued in 1933, this roundel
with the inscription “SANCTE ROCHE ORA
PRO NOBIS” and a diameter of 28 cm (with
border) is not in the museum today.
5 Book of acquisitions, 5 January 1891: “Vitrail
médaillon en grisaille repr. Ste. Barbe comm.
XV S. par l’intermédiaire de Jaminé de Hasselt
— 200 fr.” and receipt Germain Jaminé,
Antwerp, 5 January 1891: “[…] médaillon
représentant Sainte Barbe provenant de M.
le curé de Herck.” MMB.A.0188. Cat. no. 19. In
1890, Mayer van den Bergh had purchased
from Germain Jaminé a “Renaissance door”.
6 Book of acquisitions, 14 November 1891:
“Vitrail rond représ. St. Corneille acheté chez
Van Severen à St. Nicolas — 150 fr.” Cat.
no. 22. Mayer van den Bergh also bought
liturgical garments and tapestries from Van
Severen in 1892 and 1898.
7 Receipt Steyaert, Bruges, 31 May 1893:
“[…] tableau en verre représentant la mère
au tombeau de Christ la somme de f. 55.”
MMB.A.0365. The panel is not in the collection
today and was thus certainly resold.
8 Invoice Louis De Maeyer, Aalst, 14
June 1894. MMB.A.0457. Auct. Cat. Van
Langenhove‑Biebuyck 1894, lot no. 539. Cat
nos. 6, 11, 30‑32.
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Fig. 1 Nativity, Southern Low Countries,
Early 16th century,  20,3 cm, inv. no. 636,
Photograph: Ulrike Müller, © Museum Mayer
van den Bergh, Antwerp
Letter Pierre Peeters, Antwerp, 30 July
1890, confirming the sale of a “glasraam”.
MMB.A.0152.
10
Letter Paul Dangis, Brussels, 10 June
1896, confirming the sale of a “petit vitrail”.
MMB.A.0656. Dangis also supplied, among
others, Gothic paintings and ivories in 1896.
11
Book of acquisitions, 12 March 1891: “9
vitraux anciens du commencement du XVI
S. (médaillons) chez Eva Krug — 350 fr.” and
receipt Eva Krug, Antwerp, 12 March 1891.
MMB.A.0365.
12
Letter Burny, Brussels, 14 June 1893,
confirming the sale of a “petit vitrage”.
MMB.A.0371.
13
Book of acquisitions, 27 September 1891:
“2 vitraux forme médaillon achetés à Gand
chez Willems — 70 fr.”
14
Invoice Stalins & Janssens, “Atelier de
Peinture sur Verre”, Antwerp, 31 December
1891, for repairing “2 oude medaillons”,
“4 pannelen met medaillons” and “drÿ oude
glasraamen” for 60 fr. MMB.A.0251.
15
Letter Jacob Storz, Chur, 6 March 1889.
MMB.A.0092. Cat. no. 29.
16
RHA 03 den Bergh’s focus on Netherlandish roundels was by far not
exclusive. This is also confirmed by the thirteenth‑century
French Annunciation which would later receive a prominent
place in one of the exhibition rooms dedicated to Gothic
art [fig. 5]. 17 This panel, acquired with the collection Carlo
Micheli from Paris in 1898 (de Coo 1965), originates from
the south rose window of Notre Dame de Paris from where
it apparently was removed at the time of Alfred Gérente’s
restorations in 1861 (Perrot 1989). A roundel purchased
from Geoffroy in Marseille 18 and two roundels representing
Children playing and a Female figure acquired from the
Parisian collector de Lannoy in exchange for three ivory
plaquettes testify Mayer van den Bergh’s good connections
to French dealers and collectors. Upon his request, de
Lannoy moreover declared that both panels were “ancient
and have not been retouched”. 19
The small oval Annunciation was acquired from the
Dutchman François van Waegeningh in 1892. This
“antiquaire‑expert” who seems to have run, together
with his father Gerard, two businesses in art and antiques
in Nijmegen and Breda, repeatedly sold paintings,
sculptures and antiques to Mayer van den Bergh. Bought
as a fifteenth‑century panel and still catalogued as such
in 1933 (Catalogue 1933, 91), it is today considered a
nineteenth‑century work after a painting by Albrecht
Bouts. 20
In Munich, Julius Böhler was a reliable dealer not only in
paintings and sculptures, but also in stained glass. 21 Finally,
Mayer van den Bergh’s friend Alexander Schnütgen, the
canon, collector and founder of the Schnütgen Museum
of Christian Art in Cologne, offered him a roundel with the
64 DOSSIER Stained Glass and the (Re‑) Creation of an Ideal Past
Annunciation, because he knew that Fritz attached “great
importance to the acquisition of such objects”. 22
The analysis of the collecting strategies, criteria and
networks allows us to draw a profile of Fritz Mayer van den
Bergh as a well‑connected, discriminating and conscientious
collector. He paid great attention to artistic quality and
conservation state, and he approached his collecting
activity in a systematic way, selecting and documenting
stained‑glass objects with the same care as other art works
in his collection. His exclusive focus on small‑scale panels
from the early modern period confirms that he already
nourished plans to integrate them within a historicizing
(museum) space.
Historical (Re‑) Construction and Musealization. Display
Strategies
The 1933 museum catalogue and a number of photographs
of its interior from approximately the same period provide
valuable information about the original display of the
stained‑glass collection. When the museum was opened in
1904, the exhibition rooms were dedicated to different (art)
historical periods in which paintings, sculptures, furniture and
the surrounding decorative elements such as chimney pieces,
beam ceilings, gold leather hangings as well as stained glass
formed a consistent, esthetically appealing unity. Originally,
the entire collection of stained‑glass panels was integrated
into the existing windows in five of the nine exhibition rooms
(rooms II, III, IV, V, and IX) as well as in the vestibule, upper
corridor and staircase. Today, 38 of the 44 panels are still on
display in the museum’s windows, most of them however in
different locations. 23
17
Cat. no. 1.
Book of acquisitions, 15 June 1899:
“Acheté à Marseille chez Geoffroy Rue de
la Pyramide un vitrail rond en grisaille du
commencement du XVIe — 50 fr.”
18
Letter de Lannoy, Paris, 10 May 1895:
“Je garanti à M. le Chevalier Mayer que les
deux vitraux que je lui ai changé pour trois
plaques […] sont anciens […] le vitrail rond jeu
d’enfants du XV siècle et le vitrail rond buste
de femme commencement du XVI siècle, et
que ces vitraux n’ont subi aucun retouche.”
MMB.A.0558. Cat. nos. 3, 26. On 4 May 1895,
Mayer van den Bergh sold “4 vitraux ronds,
1 poignard, 1 fragment de retable représ. une
crédence, 1 couronne de lumières gothiques
en fer forgé” to “de Lannoy de Paris — 1.200
fr.” The identity of this Parisian collector,
resident in 48, Rue de Londres, is unclear.
He may be the “E. de Lannoy” from Paris
whose collection of Old Master paintings
and antiques was auctioned in Antwerp
in October 1899. He is however not to be
confused with “Lannoy, marchand de tableaux
à Paris, 139, Boulevard Haussmann” from
whom Mayer van den Bergh, according to an
entry in his book of acquisitions, purchased
“un portrait de prélat par Jordaens” on 31 July
1899, or with the Belgian “Delannoy”, from
whose collection five stained‑glass roundels
can be traced in public museums in Louisville,
Kentucky and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, cf.
Husband 1991, 82, 85, 109.
19
Book of acquisitions, 4 May 1892: “Vitrail
médaillon représentant l’Annonciation milieu
du XV S. acheté à Van Waegeninghe jeune —
60 fr.” Cat. no. 43. The art and antiques dealer
François Van Waegeningh later settled in The
Hague, cf. Auct. Cat. Van Waegeningh 1923.
20
Receipt Julius Böhler, Munich, 2 October
1899: “[…] bestätige Ihnen […] den Empfang
von fr. 2200 für 1 Bild Maria Tod, kleines
Porträt, 1 Bronzemörser + eine Glasscheibe.”
21
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RHA 03 In the beginning of the twentieth century, visitors entered
the museum not through today’s main entrance, but
through a door in the first exhibition room leading to the
Mayer van den Bergh’s neighboring family home. In the
second exhibition room one could find the first set of eight
fifteenth‑ and sixteenth‑century stained‑glass panels: the
Nativity [fig. 1], Sheltering strangers, Saint Barbara, Allegory
of Patience [fig. 2], Tobias’ return, Saint Martin, Children
playing and a Coat of arms. 24 They were exhibited together
with the late‑thirteenth‑century Christ‑Saint‑John‑Ensemble,
Lucas Cranach’s Saint Catherine and Saint Barbara (then
forming a triptych with the Maria lactans by the Master of
Frankfurt), the retable with the Madonna and the Saints
Catherine, Barbara, Mary Magdalene and Agnes [fig. 3], and
other sixteenth‑century Flemish sculptures, paintings and
furniture [fig. 4].
The Salle III was an intimate room dedicated to late
medieval devotional images, altarpieces (the Adoration by
the Master of 1518), statues of saints and lamenting angels,
textiles, chandeliers and other liturgical equipment. Within
this atmospheric setting, the thirteenth‑century French
Annunciation took pride of place as the only stained‑glass
window in the room [fig. 5]. 25
Returning through the inner courtyard, one reached
the vestibule. This area exhibited an eclectic mix of old
and modern. Neo‑Gothic architecture and decorative
elements such as the ornamental frieze above the door were
complemented with three sixteenth‑century stained‑glass
panels: Saint Joseph of Arimathea, Daniel and Suzanna and
Christ’s Sermon on the Mount [fig. 6]. 26 For the vestibule,
Henriëtte had commissioned two representative modern
65 DOSSIER Stained Glass and the (Re‑) Creation of an Ideal Past
stained‑glass windows: the Coat of arms of the Mayer van
den Bergh family [fig. 6] and the large Coat of arms of the
Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke above the door, the latter a work
of the Antwerp artist Frans Proost. 27 The two modern panels
were not catalogued in 1933 and thus certainly conceived as
decorative elements rather than museum objects. Especially
the Coat of arms of the Mayer van den Bergh family, of which
the present whereabouts is unknown, indicates Henriëtte’s
determination to symbolically inscribe her family into
Antwerp’s glorious history, revived and eternalized through
her museum.
On the first floor, the tour continued in the fourth
room, the “Salle Gothique”. Together with Quentin
Massys’’ Crucifixion triptych and Vrancke van der Stockt’s
Lamentation, four fifteenth‑ and sixteenth‑century
stained‑glass panels — Saint Agnes [fig. 7] , two Calvaries
and the today lost Saint Roch — mirrored the devotional
intimacy, mysticism and piety so admired by Fritz. 28
Representing the typical seventeenth‑century Flemish
collector’s cabinet, the large Salle V or Library displayed
Baroque paintings, gold leather and furniture (“Rubens
chairs”) as well as Mayer van den Bergh’s collections of
prints and drawings, Renaissance lead plaquettes, books and
local antiques [fig. 8]. The room’s particular atmosphere of
local pride and piety, encyclopedic knowledge and vanity is
enhanced by the here‑presented roundels Saint Cornelius,
Saint Margaret, Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint John the
Evangelist, 29 and the representative Swiss heraldic panels. 30
The Grande Salle VI — dedicated to the Bruegel family
and their contemporaries — and the rooms VII and
VIII, decorated in the eighteenth‑century style, did not
MMB.A.0975. Between 1894 and 1900, Mayer
van den Bergh regularly bought (and resold)
objects of fine and applied art from (and to)
Böhler.
Letter Alexander Schnütgen, Cologne, 7
July 1894: “Da ich für dieses [Glasscheibchen]
keine unmittelbare Verwendung habe,
weil alle meine Fenster mit Glasmalereien
ausgestattet sind wäre ich nicht abgeneigt,
dasselbe gegen ein anderes Kunstwerk
einzutauschen […] weil Sie gerade auf die
Erwerbung solcher Scheiben Wert legen.
Dasselbe hat 24 cm Durchmesser, stellt die
Verkündigung in prachtvoller Zeichnung
und Färbung dar, ist wohl kurz vor 1500
am Niederrhein entstanden, von absolut
tadelloser Erhaltung.” MMB.A.0469.
22
Currently not on display are the cat. nos. 4,
5, 25, 30, 31, 42.
23
24
25
Cat. no. 1.
26
27
Cat. nos. 3, 5, 6, 7, 19, 23, 33, 35.
Cat. nos. 11, 37, 38.
Cat. no. 44.
28
Cat. nos. 2, 4, 8.
29
Cat. nos. 22, 25, 26, 34.
30
Cat. nos. 17, 18, 24, 29, 36.
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Fig. 2 Allegory of Patience, Southern Low
Countries, First half of the 16th century,
 20,2 cm, inv. no. 654, Photograph: Ulrike
Müller, © Museum Mayer van den Bergh,
Antwerp
Fig. 3 Museum Mayer van
den Bergh, Antwerp, Salle II
on the ground floor (today
Baroque Hall), First half
of the twentieth century,
Photograph: anonymous,
Universiteitsbibliotheek
Ghent, BRKZ.TOPO.1062.E.06
Fig. 4 Museum Mayer van
den Bergh, Antwerp, Salle II
on the ground floor (today
Baroque Hall), First half
of the twentieth century,
Photograph: anonymous,
Universiteitsbibliotheek
Ghent, BRKZ.TOPO.1062.E.07
Fig. 5 Museum Mayer van
den Bergh, Antwerp, Salle
III on the ground floor
(today not a part of the
museum anymore), First half
of the twentieth century,
Photograph: anonymous,
Universiteitsbibliotheek
Ghent, BRKZ.TOPO.1062.E.09
RHA 03 incorporate any stained‑glass panels. The allegedly
fifteenth‑century Annunciation was displayed in the
eclectic Salle IX on the third floor, next to sixteenth‑
and seventeenth‑century sculptures, Baroque paintings,
porcelain and metalwork, and the tapestry series of Astrea
and Celadon. 31 The remaining panels — the Charlemagne,
Allegory of Death, The Damned in Hell and The Triumph
of Amor, 32 the coats of arms of Antwerp clerics and the
fragments with inscriptions 33 — were spread over the
windows in the upper corridor and staircase.
For the museum, Henriëtte thus devised an elaborate
display concept in which the stained‑glass panels alluded
to their original devotional, representative and decorative
function in an early‑modern domestic setting. Herein,
certain historical inconsistencies — such as the display of
sixteenth‑century stained glass within a seventeenth‑century
interior, completed with nineteenth‑century decorative
elements — were not considered as disruptive. After all, the
prevailing aim was to create a historical and esthetically
appealing atmosphere rather than to reconstruct an
authentic historical space.
Flemish Movement and Catholic Revival. Motivations and
Aims
In turn‑of‑the‑century Antwerp, Fritz and Henriëtte Mayer
van den Bergh were not the only ones attracted to stained
glass and its use within historicizing interiors. In fact, in the
second half of the nineteenth century Flanders experienced
a revival of interest in this traditional art.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Flanders had been
the center of a great production of stained glass, but in the
68 DOSSIER Stained Glass and the (Re‑) Creation of an Ideal Past
Baroque era the art had fallen into decline due to changing
tastes. With the rise of the early Romantic Movement in
eighteenth‑ and early‑nineteenth‑century Britain, great
amounts of Netherlandish stained glass were purchased by
English collectors and integrated into neo‑Gothic mansions
and churches (Berserik and Caen 2007, xvii‑xxv, Caen 2009,
331‑342). With the neo‑Gothic fashion, the taste for stained
glass then gradually spread on the continent. 34 In Flanders,
the interest in and the number of publications on the
subject for specialist as well as lay audiences considerably
increased after 1860 (f.i. Lévy 1862, Van Cauwenberghs 1891),
and authors such as Herman Druyts praised especially the
decorative and atmospheric qualities of stained glass (Druyts
1875, 1‑2). 35
Another important collector of stained glass in Antwerp
was the historian and archeologist Frans Claes (1860‑1933).
In November 1904, one month before the inauguration
of the Mayer van den Bergh Museum, Claes opened his
private museum De Gulden Spoor (The Golden Spur) in the
Sint‑Vincentiusstraat (Denucé et al. 1932, 168, Müller 2013,
27‑28). Next to his extensive collection of archeological and
art objects related to the history of Flemish guild life, Claes
owned a number of stained‑glass panels. As in the Mayer van
den Bergh Museum, these were integrated into the museum’s
period rooms. The windows in the historicizing Guild Halls
on the ground floor, for example, incorporated several
nineteenth‑century stained‑glass panels with moralizing
images and inscriptions in vernacular borrowed from Jacob
Cats’ famous seventeenth‑century emblem books. Claes,
whose taste was strongly coined by the Flemish movement,
certainly preferred the moralistic imagery and vernacular
31
Cat. no. 43.
32
Cat. nos. 15, 20, 21, 27.
Cat. nos. 9, 10, 12‑14, 16, 28, 30‑32, 39‑42.
The majority of the panels originally displayed
in the corridor and staircase retained their
original locations until today.
33
Other collectors of stained glass in
nineteenth‑century Flanders were f.i. Jean
d’Huyvetter (1770‑1833) from Ghent, the
architect Louis Minard (1801‑1875) from Ghent
and the artist Walter Vaes (1882‑1958) from
Antwerp.
34
Van Cauwenberghs’ treatise on the history
of glass painting was also published in the
Antwerp periodical De Vlaamsche School in
1878 and thus certainly known to a broader,
art‑interested public.
35
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Fig. 6 Museum Mayer
van den Bergh, Antwerp,
Vestibule, First half of
the twentieth century,
Photograph: anonymous,
Universiteitsbibliotheek
Ghent, BRKZ.
TOPO.1062.E.04
Fig. 8 Museum Mayer
van den Bergh, Antwerp,
Salle V (the Library)
on the second floor,
seen from Salle VI (La
Grande Salle), First half
of the twentieth century,
Photograph: anonymous,
Universiteitsbibliotheek
Ghent, BRKZ.
TOPO.1062.E.14
Fig. 7 Saint Agnes of Rome, Low Countries or Germany
(?), ­Mid-15th century,  18,6 cm, inv. no. 632, Photograph:
Beeldarchief Collectie Antwerpen, © Museum Mayer van
den Bergh, Antwerp
RHA 03 texts for ideological purposes. The panels moreover formed
an ideal frame for the meetings of several flamingant
cultural societies that regularly took place in De Gulden
Spoor, of many of which Claes was a leading member: the
Vlaamsche Oudheidkundige Kring (Flemish Archeological
Circle), Antwerpsch Oudheidkundig Genootschap (Antwerp
Archeological Society), De Club der XII, the artists’ circle De
Scalden and De Kunst in het Openbaar Leven (The Art in the
Public Life), an association that promoted the conservation
of historical buildings in Antwerp. In Claes’ museum,
stained glass played a meaningful role in the creation of a
particular atmosphere in which the totality — “arts, customs,
language and religion” — mirrored and represented the
beauty of “his beloved Flemish community” (Denucé et al.
1932, 10‑11). 36
Fritz Mayer van den Bergh and Frans Claes certainly
shared the same interests and moved in similar social and
cultural circles. Mayer van den Bergh was for instance
an honorary member of De Scalden since the group’s
foundation in 1889, and he and his mother patronized many
of its members, among which Frans Proost. 37 In 1894 Fritz
and Henriëtte were actively involved in the organization of
the Antwerp World Fair for which the sixteenth‑century city
center Oud Antwerpen (Old Antwerp) was reconstructed
(de Coo 1979, 15‑16), and in 1897 he joined De Kunst in het
Openbaar Leven, which had emerged out of the 1894 event.
The collector’s sympathy with the Flemish movement is
moreover apparent from his only publication, a book with
translations of German legends from the Rhine area into
Dutch, lavishly illustrated by yet another Scalden‑artist,
Edmond Van Offel (de Coo 1968).
70 DOSSIER Stained Glass and the (Re‑) Creation of an Ideal Past
Besides the flamingant sympathies, religious motivations
were a similar — if not stronger — driving force in the
shaping of the Mayer van den Bergh’s socio‑cultural ideals
and artistic taste. In contrast to Claes, Mayer van den Bergh
had a strong preference for stained glass representing
religious subject matters such as Saints, biblical scenes and
allegories of Catholic virtues.
The first Board of Trustees that managed the museum
after the collector’s death — summoned by Henriëtte and
consisting of a group of close friends of the family — can
function as an indicator of the Mayer van den Bergh’s
political and religious ideals. The museum’s first director
was the lawyer and Catholic politician August Delbeke
(1853‑1921). Acquainted with Henriëtte’s father Jean van
den Bergh from the Antwerp Meeting Party and one of
his followers in the provincial council, Delbeke was known
for his ultramontane and conservative aspirations (Heylen
2012). Another board member was the neo‑Gothic painter
Jozef Janssens. The author of the collector’s posthumous
portrait, 38 Janssens was a sought‑after portraitist of Catholic
Churchmen and politicians and a painter of idealizing
religious murals (Römer 2013). The artist was a member
of the Catholic Guild of Saint Thomas and Saint Luke, the
Flemish neo‑Gothic artists’ circle around Jean‑Baptiste
Bethune and Arthur Verhaegen in which particular
importance was attached to appropriate and authentic
restorations of medieval architecture and stained glass (Caen
et al. 2008).
In line with their Catholic values, the Mayer van den Bergh
family furthermore demonstrated a great social responsibility
and charitable commitment. Fritz was appointed a knight of
36
“Een warme liefde voor eigen schoon
zweeft in de atmosfeer van het machtige huis,
om ‘t even of het gaat om de kunst, de zeden,
de taal of den godsdienst van zijn vóór alles
geliefde Vlaamsche gemeenschap.”
37
Cat. no. 44.
Jozef Janssens, Portrait of Fritz Mayer van
den Bergh, 1901, Oil on Canvas, inv. no. 1871.2.
38
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RHA 03 Malta in 1901 (de Coo 1979, 109). After his death, Henriëtte
founded, in addition to the museum, several charitable
institutions, among which the Sint‑Henricusstichting and
the Sint‑Fredericusgesticht (Saint Henry‑ and Saint Frederic
Foundations) for the care of the injured and the elderly, both
named after Fritz’ titular Saints (Baisier and Müller 2013,
157). 39
Just as Henriëtte’s social projects, the establishment of
the museum — equally dedicated to her beloved son — can
thus also be understood as an act of philanthropy, reflecting
the family’s religious ideals and values as well as their
socio‑cultural involvement.
Conclusion
Fritz and Henriëtte Mayer van den Bergh collected and
arranged stained glass with the same care as other objects
of fine and applied art. For his acquisitions Fritz could
draw on an extensive national and international network.
He always paid great attention to the objects’ authenticity
and state of conservation. Despite his systematic approach,
he most likely considered the stained‑glass panels not so
much as objects of (art) historical inquiry (as for instance
his paintings), but rather as decorative elements. Henriëtte
integrated the stained‑glass collection into the museum
display to enhance the historicizing atmosphere of the
exhibition rooms.
The Mayer van den Bergh’s cultural, artistic and
charitable activities as well as their social networks all
point to the preeminent role that the Catholic ideals in the
sense of the neo‑Gothic philosophy played in the family’s
self‑understanding. This mindset informed Fritz’ collecting
71 DOSSIER Stained Glass and the (Re‑) Creation of an Ideal Past
activity and Henriëtte’s decisions concerning the installation
of the museum, in which the historicizing (re‑)construction of
an ideal past was combined with a fervent plea for a revival
of the Roman Catholic values and virtues. In the museum,
decorative and ideological functions did not contradict,
but instead complement one another in the pursuit of the
total work of art. The museum’s holdings of stained glass
can thus exemplarily stand for the collection as a whole,
mirroring Fritz’ and Henriëtte’s romantic ideals, neo‑Gothic
philosophy and Catholic values in their artistic taste, method
of collecting and display strategies.
Acknowledgements
I thank Claire Baisier, director at the Mayer van den Bergh
Museum, for support and allowing me to work with the
museum archive. I am grateful to Rita Van Dooren and
Janna Everaert for their assistance during archival research,
and to Ann Durt for allowing me to study the stained‑glass
collection in the former museum De Gulden Spoor. I would
also like to thank Joost Caen for our conversations on the
topic of this article and for his comments.
39
The collector’s birth name was Fredericus
Henricus Godfridus Emil Constant Mayer.
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RHA 03 Appendix
Catalogue
1. Annunciation, France, 13th century,  40 cm, inv. no. 631,
Provenance: acquired in 1898 with the collection Carlo
Micheli, Paris. Notre Dame de Paris, Southern Rose Window.
2. Saint Agnes of Rome, Low Countries or Germany (?),
Mid‑15th century,  18,6 cm, inv. no. 632, Provenance:
unknown.
3. Two boys and two girls playing, Southern Low Countries,
15th century (?),  22,5 cm, inv. no. 633, Provenance:
acquired in 1895 from de Lannoy, Paris.
4. Calvary, Southern Low Countries, Early 16th century, 
21,3 cm, inv. no. 634, Provenance: unknown.
5. Coat of arms with three birds, Low Countries, Late 15th
— early 16th century,  21,7 cm, inv. no. 635, Provenance:
unknown.
6. Nativity, Southern Low Countries, Early 16th century, 
20,3 cm, inv. no. 636, Provenance: acquired in 1894 from
the auction Camille Van Langenhove‑Biebuyck, Aalst (lot.
no. 539).
7. Sheltering strangers (one of the Seven Acts of Mercy),
Low Countries, Late 15th — early 16th century,  20,9 cm,
inv. no. 637, Provenance: acquired in 1885 from the
auction Van der Straelen‑Moons‑Van Lerius, Antwerp
(Vol. VIII, lot. no. 686‑3).
8. Calvary, Southern Low Countries, 15th century,
41,5 x 32 cm, inv. no. 643, Provenance: unknown.
9. Two angels holding the coat of arms of Balthazar Cruyt,
Southern Low Countries, Mid‑17th century,  22,7 cm, inv.
no. 638, Provenance: acquired in 1885 from the auction
72 DOSSIER Stained Glass and the (Re‑) Creation of an Ideal Past
Van der Straelen‑Moons‑Van Lerius, Antwerp (Vol. VIII,
lot. no. 681‑2 or 686‑4). Former convent of the Norbertine
nuns, Antwerp (founded by Balthazar Cruyt in 1649).
10. Two angels holding the insignia and motto of abbot
Marcus Cruyt, Inscription: SPES MEA I DNO M C, Southern
Low Countries, Mid‑16th century,  22,8 cm, inv. no. 639,
Provenance: acquired in 1885 from the auction Van der
Straelen‑Moons‑Van Lerius, Antwerp (Vol. VIII, lot. no. 682‑3).
11. Daniel opposes the verdict against Suzanna, Southern Low
Countries, Pseudo Ortkens workshop, Early 16th century,
18 x 19,7 cm (oval), inv. no. 645, Provenance: acquired in
1894 from the auction Camille Van Langenhove‑Biebuyck,
Aalst (lot. no. 539).
12. Coat of arms with three pentagrams, Southern Low
Countries, 18th or 19th century (?),  24,8 cm, inv. no. 641,
Provenance: acquired in 1885 from the auction Van der
Straelen‑Moons‑Van Lerius, Antwerp (Vol. VIII, lot. no. 681‑5).
13. Coat of arms of bishop Gaspar Nemius, Inscription: 1636
ATTENDE TIBI ET DOCTRINAE, Southern Low Countries,
Antwerp, 1636,  25,8 cm, with border 29,7 cm, inv. no.
642, Provenance: acquired in 1885 from the auction Van
der Straelen‑Moons‑Van Lerius, Antwerp (Vol. VIII, lot. no.
686‑1).
14. Coat of arms with three eagles, a rose and a bishop’s staff,
Southern Low Countries, 16th century,  21,9 cm, inv. no.
644, Provenance: unknown.
15. Charlemagne with a kneeling male donor, Southern Low
Countries, First half of the 16th century,  21,2 cm, inv. no.
646, Provenance: unknown.
16. Fragment with inscription in Gothic letters in a cartouche:
TE LISTRIS EEN CREPEL IS GHENESEN. VA[N] PAULUS
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RHA 03 DES WOL DAT VOLCK MYEDS DESEN. HEER GODLYCK
EEN HEBBEN GHEDAEN. MAER PAULUS KEER DE DOER
SYN VOERMAEN. 1549, Southern Low Countries, 1549,
10,5 x 13,5 cm, inv. no. 647, Provenance: unknown.
17. So‑called “Wappenscheibe” of Obervogt der Reichenau
Marx (Markus) Empser, Inscription: MARX EMPSER DIESER
ZEIT OBERVOGT IN DER REICHENOW 1564, Switzerland
or Germany, 1564, 36,5 x 26 cm, inv. no. 648, Provenance:
acquired in 1898 with the collection Carlo Micheli, Paris.
1839 from the collection Debruge‑Duménil, Paris.
18. Coat of arms of Andareas von Salis, Inscription: 1587
· ANDAREAS VON SALIS · BURGER · ZU · KUR,
Switzerland, Chur (?), 1587,  14 cm, inv. no. 649,
Provenance: unknown.
19. Saint Barbara with a kneeling female donor, Inscription:
S BARBARA ORA PRO NOBIS, Southern Low Countries,
Leuven, early 16th century,  22,5 cm, inv. no. 650,
Provenance: acquired in 1891 from the rectory of
Herk‑de‑Stad through the intermediary Germain Jaminé,
Hasselt.
20.Personification of Death, Southern Low Countries, early
16th century,  22,3 cm, inv. no. 651, Provenance: unknown.
21. The Damned in Hell, Southern Low Countries, Late 15th
— early 16th century,  22,4 cm, inv. no. 652, Provenance:
unknown.
22. Saint Cornelius with a kneeling male donor, Southern Low
Countries, Leuven (?), early 16th century,  22,3 cm, inv.
no. 653, Provenance: acquired in 1891 from Henri Van
Severen, Sint‑Niklaas.
23. Allegory of Patience, Inscription: SATAN; PATIENTIA;
MORS; NIDICHEYT; IO BAPTISTA, Southern Low
73 DOSSIER Stained Glass and the (Re‑) Creation of an Ideal Past
Countries, First half of the 16th century,  20,2 cm, inv. no.
654, Provenance: unknown.
24.So‑called “Bauernscheibe”, Inscription: JACOB HAGGS
AMAN ZUE SULG UND DOROTHEA DÖNERIN SEIN
ELICHE HAUSFRAW 1625, Switzerland, 1625, 31 x 20,5 cm,
inv. no. 655, Provenance: unknown.
25. Saint Margaret of Antioch, Southern Low Countries,
First half of the 16th century,  22,4 cm, inv. no. 656,
Provenance: unknown.
26. Female figure or Saint Mary Magdalene, Southern Low
Countries or France (?), First half of the 16th century,
 21,9 cm, inv. no. 657, Provenance: acquired in 1891 from
de Lannoy, Paris.
27. Triumph of Amor, Southern Low Countries, First half of the
16th century,  23 cm, inv. no. 658, Provenance: unknown.
28. Fragment with inscription: D, PEETRVS ANCHEMANT,
CANONIC S, MICHAELIS ORD PRAEMONSTRAT
PERSONA IN DEOERNE A° 1611, Southern Low Countries,
1611, 15 x 13 cm, inv. no. 659, Provenance: acquired in 1885
from the auction Van der Straelen‑Moons‑Van Lerius,
Antwerp (Vol. VIII, lot. no. 681‑4). Former church of Saint
Michael or abbey of Saint Michael, Antwerp.
29. So‑called “Wappenscheibe” of Thomas von Schauenstein,
Inscription: THOMAS VON SCHAUWENSTEIN VNND
EHREN VELS ZU HALDENSTEIN FREYHERR UNND
RITTER A° 1614, Switzerland, Felix Schärer (Zurich), 1614,
44 x 33,5 cm, inv. no. 660, Provenance: acquired in 1899
from Jacob Storz, Chur.
30.Woman Smoking, Low Countries, 17th century,
13,1 x 8,3 cm, inv. no. 661, Provenance: acquired in 1894
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RHA 03 from the auction Camille Van Langenhove‑Biebuyck,
Aalst (lot. no. 539).
31. Man Smoking, Low Countries, 17th century, 12,9 x 7,3 cm,
inv. no. 662, Provenance: acquired in 1894 from the auction
Camille Van Langenhove‑Biebuyck, Aalst (lot. no. 539).
32. Fragment with inscription in a cartouche: JOANNES
LOYENS ENDE MARGRIT VAN DEN ENDT SYN
HUYSVROU DAT 1666, Southern Low Countries, 1666,
18,5 x 15,5 cm, inv. no. 663, Provenance: acquired in 1894
from the auction Camille Van Langenhove‑Biebuyck,
Aalst (lot. no. 539).
33. Tobias’ return, Southern Low Countries, Mid‑16th century,
24 x 19,4 cm, inv. no. 664, Provenance: unknown.
34.Saint John the Evangelist, Southern Low Countries,
First half of the 16th century,  25,8 cm, inv. no. 665,
Provenance: unknown.
35. Saint Martin, Inscription: MERTINS DE MVNCK E. IACOPS
A° 1643, Southern Low Countries, after Jan van der
Straet/Johannes Stradanus, 1643, 26,8 x 19,8 cm (oval),
inv. no. 666, Provenance: unknown.
36. So‑called “Standesscheibe von Glarus”, Inscription: 1596,
Switzerland, 1596, 31,5 x 22 cm, inv. no. 667, Provenance:
unknown.
37. Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, Southern Low Countries,
Late 16th — early 17th century, 18,4 x 14,3 cm (rectangular
with rounded top), inv. no. 668, Provenance: acquired in
1885 from the auction Van der Straelen‑Moons‑Van Lerius,
Antwerp (Vol. VIII, lot. no. 682‑5).
38. Fragment from a descent from the cross: Saint Joseph of
Arimathea, Southern Low Countries, circle of Bernard van
Orley (?), First half of the 16th century, 15,8 x 6 cm, inv. no.
74 DOSSIER Stained Glass and the (Re‑) Creation of an Ideal Past
669, Provenance: acquired in 1885 from the auction Van
der Straelen‑Moons‑Van Lerius, Antwerp (Vol. VIII, lot. no.
682‑6).
39. Fragment with inscription in Gothic letters: 1463 WILL
VAN BERG WYN IN VLAS… 1464 JAN DE BEENHO… PEET
CLAES, Southern Low Countries, 1464, 17 x 17 cm, inv. no.
1292, Provenance: unknown.
40.Fragment with inscription: 1496 JAN VA BERGE JAN
DE CONINCK 1497 JAN DE SCHOT WILLEM DE VOS,
Southern Low Countries, 1496‑1497, 10 x 17 cm, inv. no.
1293, Provenance: unknown.
41. Fragment with the pedestal of a Renaissance column,
Southern Low Countries, 16th century, 17,5 x 13,5 cm, inv.
no. 1294, Provenance: unknown.
42.Two angels holding the coat of arms of Balthazar Cruyt,
Southern Low Countries, Mid‑17th century,  22,6 cm, inv.
no. 1295, Provenance: acquired in 1885 from the auction
Van der Straelen‑Moons‑Van Lerius, Antwerp (Vol. VIII,
lot. no. 681‑2 or 686‑4). Former convent of the Norbertine
nuns, Antwerp (founded by Balthazar Cruyt in 1649).
43.Annunciation, Southern Low Countries (?), after
Albrecht Bouts, 19th century, 22,2 x 15,1 cm, inv. no.
1360, Provenance: acquired in 1892 form François van
Waegeningh.
44.Coat of arms of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke,
Inscription: WT JONSTEN VERSAEMT, Southern Low
Countries, Frans Proost (Antwerp), Early 20th century,
114,5 x 111,5 cm, inv. no. 1951, Provenance: Museum Mayer
van den Bergh, Antwerp.
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RHA 03 75 DOSSIER Stained Glass and the (Re‑) Creation of an Ideal Past
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Archival Resources
Antwerp, Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Historisch Archief, Aankoopboek.
Antwerp, Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Historisch Archief, Stukken
betreffende de collectievorming.
Bibliography
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Baisier, Claire and Müller, Ulrike. 2013. “Fritz en Henriëtte Mayer van den Bergh.”
500 jaar verzamelen in Antwerpen. Een passioneel verhaal, ed. Hildegard van
de Velde and Nico van Hout. Leuven: Davidsfonds, 146‑159.
Berserik, Cees J. and Caen, Joost M. A. 2007. Silver‑stained Roundels and
Unipartite Panels before the French Revolution. Flanders, Vol. I: The Province
of Antwerp (Corpus Vitrearum Belgium, Checklist Series). Turnhout: Brepols.
Caen, Joost M. A. 2009. The Production of Stained Glass in the County of
Flanders and the Duchy of Brabant from the XVth to the XVIIth Centuries:
Materials and Techniques (Corpus Vitrearum Belgium, Studies). Turnhout:
Brepols.
Caen, Joost M. A. et al. 2008. “Het verleden herscheppen. De restauratie‑ethiek
en ‑praktijk in het negentiende‑eeuwse glasatelier Bethune‑Verhaegen.”
Wedijveren met de middeleeuwen. Negentiende‑eeuws corporatisme en de
restauratiepraktijk in België en Nederland, ed. Joost M. A. Caen and Bert De
Munck. Nijmegen: Trajecta, 145‑162.
Catalogue du Musée Mayer van den Bergh Anvers. 1933. Brussels: Libraire
Nationale d’Art et d’Histoire.
De Coo, Jozef. 1965. “L’ancienne collection Micheli au Musée Mayer van den
Bergh.” Gazette des Beaux‑Arts 6:66, 345‑370.
De Coo, Jozef. 1979. Fritz Mayer van den Bergh. The Collector, the Collection.
Schoten: Govaerts.
De Coo, Jozef. 1968. “Fritz Mayer van den Bergh en Edmond van Offel,” De
Wereld van Edmond van Offel, ed. Jozef de Coo et al. ‘s Gravenwezel: De
Rode Beuk, 53‑62.
Delbeke, Auguste. 1904. Collections du Chevalier Mayer van den Bergh.
Catalogue des tableaux exposés dans les galeries de la Maison des Rois
Mages Rue de l’Hôpital, 19, Anvers, Antwerp: Bellemans.
Denucé, Jan et al. 1932. Gedenkboek Frans Claes. Museum “De Gulden Spoor” te
Antwerpen. Antwerp: De Sikkel.
Druyts, Herman. 1875. Geschiedenis der glasschildering voor het volk geschetst.
Brussels: Guyot.
Heylen, Steve. 2012. “Auguste Delbeke (1853‑1921).” ODIS — Database
Intermediary Structures Flanders [online]. Record last modified 4 July
2012. Accessed 16 June 2014, http://www.odis.be/pls/odis/opacuvw.toon_
uvw_2?CHK=PS_239.
Heylen, Steve and D’hondt, Bart. 2009. “Jean van den Bergh‑Elsen (1807‑1885).”
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modified 4 December 2009. Accessed 16 June 2014, http://www.odis.be/pls/
odis/opacuvw.toon_uvw_2?CHK=ps_118.
Husband, Timothy. 1991. Stained Glass before 1700 in American Collections:
Silver‑Stained Roundels and Unipartite Panels (Corpus Vitrearum Checklist
IV). Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art.
Lévy, Edmond. 1862. Histoire de la peinture sur verre en Europe et
particulièrement en Belgique. Brussels: Tircher.
Müller, Ulrike. 2013. “The Lure of the Ancient. Fritz Mayer van den Bergh and
the Internationalization of Artistic Taste around 1900.” Unpubl. MA thesis,
Utrecht University.
Perrot, Françoise. 1989. “Anvers, un panneau de vitrail du Musée Mayer van
den Bergh provenant de la rose sud de Notre‑Dame de Paris.” Bulletin
Monumental, 147:2, 176.
Römer, Uta. 2013. “Janssens, Jozef.” Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon (Vol. 77), ed.
Andreas Beyer et al. Berlin: De Gruyter, 346.
Van Cauwenberghs, Clemens. 1891. Notice historique sur les peintres‑verriers
d’Anvers du XVe au XVIII siècle. Antwerp: Kennes.
The Assemblage
of a Distinct Glass
Collection
The creation and display of
the glass and stained‑glass
collection of Ferdinand II
of Portugal
Abstract
resumo
Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1816 1885), king-consort
of Portugal from 1836, assembled a large collection of glass
and stained glass in his two major residences: the Necessidades
Palace, in Lisbon, and Pena Palace, in Sintra. The assemblage
exposes the primordial need to highlight the importance of
remembering the past, hence revealing the collector’s integration
in contemporary preservationist culture. Nonetheless, the choice
of the objects that should be gathered is also motivated by a
certain common trend and sensibility of his time. This paper
focus on these two aspects of the collection, while exploring
its formation and display and comparing it to other important
19th century glass collections.
Fernando de Saxe-Coburgo-Gota (1816 1885), Rei-Consorte
de Portugal a partir de 1836, reuniu uma grande coleção de
vidro e vitrais nas suas duas residências principais: o Palácio
das Necessidades, em Lisboa, e o Palácio da Pena, em
Sintra. A formação da referida coleção expõe a necessidade
primordial de destacar a importância de recordar o passado,
revelando, portanto, a integração do colecionador na cultura
preservacionista sua contemporânea. Todavia, a escolha dos
objetos recolhidos também é motivada por uma certa tendência
comum e por uma sensibilidade da época. O tema deste artigo
foca estes dois aspetos da coleção, ao explorar a sua formação
e exibição, e comparando-a com outras importantes coleções
de vidro do século xix.
Keywords
Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | 19th century
preservationist culture | Glass objects | Stainedglass | Collecting practices.
palavras-chave
Fernando de Saxe-Coburgo e Gota | Cultura preservacionista
do século XIX | Objectos de vidro | Vitral | Práticas
coleccionistas
Al e x a n d r a R o d r i g u e s
VICARTE and Department of Conservation
and Restoration, Faculdade de Ciências
e Tecnologia/UNL, Lisbon
Bruno A Martinho
Parques de Sintra — Monte da Lua, SA
/ National Palace of Pena, Sintra
CHAM, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e
Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa,
Universidade dos Açores
RHA 03 Introduction
cattered and forgotten for decades, the collection
of stained‑glass and glass objects of Ferdinand of
Saxe‑Coburg and Gotha (1816‑1885) has only recently
been rescued from obscurity 1. It is however a remarkable
testimony of 19th century collecting practices for this type
of artistic works. By combining historical and contemporary
objects, the assemblage exposes, on the one hand, the
central need to highlight the importance of remembering
the past. Hence it unveils the collector’s integration in
contemporary preservationist culture, as it was being
developed in Germany since the end of the previous
century 2. Nonetheless, on the other hand, the collection
is also shaped by a certain common trend that influences
the decision over the choice of the objects that should be
gathered. Ultimately, when looking at 19th century glass and
stained‑glass collections, one remarks that the collected
objects tell more about the collector than of the context
from where they had been extracted. The collection of
Ferdinand is revealing of his Germanic background, his
family and social relations, as well as his new social/political
role in Portugal.
S
Ferdinand collecting himself
Ferdinand of Saxe‑Coburg and Gotha (1816‑1885) became
King Ferdinand II of Portugal after marrying Queen Maria II
(1819‑1853) and fathering a male heir in 1837. Despite coming
from a family who took leading governmental roles in
19th century Europe, his preparation for the post as well as
his personal inclination towards political affairs have been
questioned (Leitão 1940, 60‑64; Lopes 2013, 78‑79, 133‑134).
77 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
In contrast, his interest in collecting and supporting the arts
has been widely acknowledged as his major contribution to
Portuguese society (Teixeira 1986, 184‑246, 253‑301). Despite
the validity of the discussion, Ferdinand did introduced in
Portugal the preservationist ideas that were being developed
in German contexts, not only by collecting historical objects,
but also by stimulating the restoration of historical buildings,
supporting the organization of exhibitions and sponsoring
artistic and archaeological associations 3.
The first glimpse of Ferdinand’s collecting practices can
be seen in Pena National Palace. After buying the ruins
of a 16th century monastery on the hills of Sintra in 1838,
Ferdinand promptly decided to adapt and enlarge the
existent architectonical structure for a summer residence.
Contrary to other revival palaces built in the beginning
of the century, such as Löwenburg, Stolzenfels or even
Babelsberg, the architectonical references that were used
for Pena do not lie solely on a national past. It is a collection
of architectonical and ornamental elements which relate
more to the collector’s biography than to the search of a
historical ideal. There are, of course, multiple references to
the past (both German and Portuguese), especially medieval
imaginary, such as the Wall, the Drawbridge, the Royal Tower
or the Knight’s Hall, but also Manueline elements, such as
armillary spheres, or Moorish wall decoration. However,
Pena Palace also integrates other references, namely at
the Stalls, which derive from an Indian pavilion 4, and at the
main entrance, referring to a type of entrance gate common
in English architecture, such as the one of Hampton Court
Palace. Ferdinand was then collecting references from places
that were somehow related to him or to the post he then
1 In 2010 the company Parques de Sintra
— Monte da Lua SA, responsible for the
management of Pena National Palace, and
the VICARTE research unit established a
protocol for the restoration and study of
the stained‑glass and glass collection of
Ferdinand of Saxe‑Coburg and Gotha. In 2011,
the group of stained‑glass panels that had
been removed from Necessidades Palace in
Lisbon in the first half of the 20th century were
displayed for the public for the first time.
For more on preservationist culture and
the development of historical consciousness
during the 19th century there is the study
conducted by Susan A. Crane (Crane 2000).
2 Ferdinand II was behind the first major
restoration projects of the monasteries of
Batalha, Alcobaça and Tomar, he supported
the Sociedade Arqueológica Lusitana from
1849 and the Real Associação dos Arquitectos
e Arqueólogos , presided over the Congresso
Literário e Antropológico in 1880 and the
Committee of Honour of the Exposição de
Arte Ornamental in 1882 (Teixeira 1986,
253‑301).
3 The authors would like to thank António
Nunes Pereira for drawing our attention to
this reference.
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RHA 03 occupied: Germanic genealogy and upbringing, the head of
State of the Portuguese empire and his family relations to
the new royal house of England 5. Pena Palace reveals the
collector’s identity and glass was to become an intrinsic part
of this discourse.
The stained‑glass window commissioned by Ferdinand
for the 16th century chapel of Pena Palace is probably the
most rhetorical set of the entire collection [fig. 1]. The
panes, produced by the Nuremberg workshop of the Kellner
around 1840‑1841 (Martinho and Vilarigues 2011, 13; Teixeira
1986, 310‑311) and intended to be placed where in the
16th century a stained‑glass window once stood, depict key
figures related to the memory of the place: Our Lady of Pena
(whose worship at the site dates back to the Middle Ages),
Saint George (one of the patrons of Portugal), King Manuel I
(who commissioned the construction of the monastery)
and Vasco da Gama (whose second return from India had
motivated the construction of the monastery) alongside
the coats of arms of Portugal, Saxony, the Cross of the
military order of Christ and the armillary sphere (the latter
two belonging to the iconography of the Portuguese sea
voyages). The site‑specific design of the window discloses
significant features of the collecting practices of the King.
First, it directly refers to the acquisition and restoration of
the ruin by Ferdinand, therefore unveiling his preservationist
attitude. Second, it uses a medium — stained‑glass — with a
feeble tradition in Portugal, but with an enduring existence
in Central European contexts, therefore referring to the
King’s background. And finally, it integrates references
to the historical memory of the nation that he adopted
through marriage. The depiction of Portuguese historical
78 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
figures in his new residence enclosures Ferdinand within the
ancestors of the Portuguese royal family. Stained‑glass thus
materializes the appropriation by the collector of both the
ruin and its history.
Projecting a room for Pena Palace
Although never undertaken, the project for the Stag
Room at Pena Palace reveals the central role that glass
was to play in this building 6. Designed by Julius Eugen
Rühl in ca.1855, the project for the Stag Room at Pena
Palace consists of a Knight’s Hall (Rittersaal) combined
with a Hunting Room (Hirschsaal), which were room types
that were becoming essential in revival projects of the
beginning of the 19th century in Germany [fig. 2]. Löweburg,
Stolzenfels, Erbach palaces as well as the Veste Coburg
had their Ritter‑ and/or Hirschsaalen, but the combining
of the two typologies in a single room is quite uncommon.
Nonetheless, both converge towards chivalrous ideals.
On the one hand, the Rittersaal with its display of armory
and heraldry (both as flags and stained‑glass) in a gothic
revival structure report to the warrior function of medieval
knights. On the other hand, the Hirschsaal with its heads of
stags recall that hunting became one of the main attributes
of nobility during the early modern age until the dawn of
the 19th century 7, therefore replacing the previous bellicose
activity. By combining these two aspects, the project reveals
an awareness of an ideal of knighthood and nobility which is
about to be lost and that must be preserved. Susan A. Crane,
who has studied the connections between the development
of a historical consciousness in early 19th century Germany
and collecting practices, stated that the “the representation
5 Ferdinand was a first cousin to both Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert and, in March 1836,
during his voyage to Lisbon, Ferdinand spent
a week in London (Lopes 2013, 66‑68).
It is still unclear why the room was not
executed. The death of the Queen in 1853, the
subsequent investment on works on other
parts of the palace (Teixeira 1986, 320) and a
growing awareness that too much money was
being spent in the construction (Lopes 2013,
194) were probably the strongest arguments.
6 Bénédicte Pradié‑Ottinger refers to hunting
as of the attributes of power, because “La
vénerie repose sur un ritual qui converge
vers le détenteur du pouvoir: au Moyen âge
le seigneur, sous l’Ancien Régime le roi, à
l’époque républicaine le maître d’équipage”
(Pradié‑Ottinger 2002, 44‑45, 135, 143).
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Fig. 1 Window of the Chapel of Pena
National Palace, Sintra — © PSML/L.Pavão
RHA 03 80 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
Fig. 2 Project for the Stag Room of
Pena Palace, Eugen Rühl, ca. 1855
— © PSML/EMIGUS
Stolzenfels, on the other hand, presents a distinguishable
element that would become fundamental to the Sintra
project. In a watercolour of the Stolzenfels Rittersall by
Caspar Scheuren, dated from 1845 9, one can see, at the far
end of the room, a cupboard where a group of glass objects
is displayed. In Rühl’s project, the same kind of objects takes
pride of place in the centre of the room. Glass objects are,
in fact, of paramount significance to the idea of German
identity. As it has been pointed out by Axel von Saldern:
of communal or ethnic history through historical objects
was […] taking the role of memorializing a collective
consciousness of history that compensated for the sense
of the loss of the past” (Crane 2000, 37). As we shall see,
glass will play a central role within these revival projects,
which may be explained by the willingness of the collector to
materialize a collective consciousness of history.
The project for the Stag Room is, in fact, indebted to
German precedents, such as the examples presented
above, of which two deserve a special reference. There are
unavoidable similarities between Rühl’s project and the
Rittersaal of the Erbach Castle 8. In both cases, openings with
stained‑glass alternate with groups of armors. Stained‑glass
was used as a reference to medieval architecture and to
the importance of family coats of arms to feudal societies.
“the nineteenth century, and in particular its last third,
witnessed a revival of ideas and costumes that were
supposed to recall to German minds the glory and
the colorful pageantry of the past, its days of joyous
turbulences and knighthood, of Imperial reign and
heavy drinking. Hardly any other object was more apt to
symbolize this Teutonic splendor than the giant Humpen 10,
decorated all over in brilliant polychrome enamel and
displaying the symbols of the «Reich», genre scenes of
robust character, or armorial devices proudly representing
distinguished families.” (Saldern 1965, 230)
The use of glass and stained‑glass in the decoration of the
Stag Room would therefore reveal the collector’s identity,
although it is not clear if Ferdinand intended to report to a
certain class identity rooted on ancient Teutonic families or,
instead, he was looking for participating in the development
of a historical consciousness of his original Vaterland 11. From
one point of view, this identity question could had been the
motive that led Ferdinand II to gather a wide collection of
glass and stained‑glass, nonetheless there are other factors
8 Uwe Gast published a couple of
watercolours of the room in his article
“Glasmalerei‑Sammlungen um 1750‑1850 —
Formen und Funktionen” (Ayers et al 2012,
13‑26).
“Der Rittersaal der Burg Stolzenfels mit
zahlreichen Figuren, nach 1845”, Rheinische
Landesbibliothek, accessed on june 30,
2014, http://www.dilibri.de/rlb/content/
pageview/19360.
9 Humpen is a type of glass tankard with
enameled decoration mostly produced
between 16th and 18th centuries in the Holy
Roman Empire.
10
The authors would like to thank Prof. Susan
A. Crane for drawing our attention to the
complex relation between class heritage and
national identity during the 19th century.
11
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RHA 03 81 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
There is a receipt for the acquisition of “2
Stück sehr schöne alte Glasfenster, Scheiben
in den prachtvollsten bunten Farben” in
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II, Livro de
Documentos de Despeza, Setembro 1864.
12
AHCB, Núcleo D. Fernando, Livro de
Documentos de Despeza, Junho 1853.
13
that must be taken into consideration. In fact, the project for
the Stag Room was never undertaken and the collections
that were gathered seem to take independent routes.
The stained‑glass collection
Comprising more than 400 items (including religious and
armorial panes, Bierscheiben, pieces of glass with figurative
decoration and small fragments of larger panels), Ferdinand’s
collection of stained‑glass is a singularity within the
Portuguese territory, where the use of this material has little
tradition. Despite being the most important collection of its
kind in the country, the circumstances in which it arrived in
Portugal are still unclear. Apart from the commission of the
window for the chapel in 1840‑1841 and the acquisition of
three pieces of stained‑glass — through the mediation of
Moritz Meyer in Dresden in 1864 12 —, no information about
the rest of the collection is known. There are, however,
references to the acquisition of old glass in Brunswick in
1852 13 and to the customs duties paid in 1863 14 and 1864 15
for the arrival of glass work (vidro em obra) in Lisbon, but
these references are too vague in order to be attributed to
stained‑glass.
There is also no evidence that the objects that were
assembled were intended for the Stag Room. The first
unquestionable news about the stained‑glass collection
only dates to the mid‑1860’s, whereas the project for Stag
Room dates back to ca.1855. Between 1853 and 1861,
Ferdinand’s life was affected by multiple personal events
that might have weakened the preservationist impetus
of earlier projects. In fact, the death of Queen Maria II in
1853 and of his elder son, King Pedro V, in 1861, and the
consequent secondarization of his role in the state protocol
may suggest a collecting attitude less concerned with
rhetorical projects, but more centralized in connoisseurship.
In fact, the first architectonical designs for Pena, where
references to German, Portuguese and Moresque iconic
buildings are so evident, give way to more discrete projects,
such as the refurbishment of this palace in the 1860’s, when
most of the furniture was acquired at a shop in Lisbon, or
the construction of a pseudo‑Alpine chalet as a refuge for
himself and his second wife, the mezzosoprano Elise Hensler
(1836‑1929).
The historical stained‑glass collection was eventually
divided by the two main residences of the King. At the
Necessidades Palace, in Lisbon, a selection of the oldest
objects was installed around 1864 to decorate three
windows on the King’s dining room (Teixeira 1986, 197) 16,
being symmetrical display of the panes the only guideline
of the composition. The central window was composed of
three columns of individual panes separated by two bars of
small pieces of coloured glass, while the side windows were
composed of three horizontal levels, each comprising a full
length pane and a side bar of small Bierscheibe [fig. 3]. The
transom windows were filled with armorial panes, being the
empty spaces occupied by pieces of coloured glass. This
patchwork effect was also used at Pena Palace, where panes
from the 16th to the 19th century were put on the windows
of the Great Hall 17, possibly during the 1860’s when a major
campaign of refurbishment of the room was conducted 18.
Like in Lisbon, the panes were tightly organized and
coloured glass was used in abundance, possibly no enhance
the colours of the objects [fig. 4].
“Nota dos direitos e mais despezas
relativas aos objectos abaixo declarados,
despachados neste Alfandega com destino
para Sua Magestade ElRei o Senhor D.
Fernando: (…) 1863.Outubro.13 — 9 Caixas
vindas de Gibraltar pela Fragata de Guerra
Italiana “Maria Adelaide” contendo 8 Placas /
vidro em obras/ pezando 48 Kilos. Dto 1K: 160
= 7$680(…)” in AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando
II, Livro de Documentos de Despeza, Janeiro
1864.
14
“Nota dos direitos e mais despezas
relativas aos objectos abaixo declarados,
despachados neste Alfandega com destino
para Sua Magestade ElRei o Senhor D.
Fernando: (…) Julho.1 — Vidro em obra
10 kilos. Dto 1K/160 = 1$600 (…)” in
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II, Livro de
Documentos de Despeza, Novembro 1864.
15
The set was removed during the 20th
century. Today it is displayed at the Stag
Room of Pena National Palace, in Sintra
(Martinho and Vilarigues 2011, 13).
16
A large number of the panes used for the
windows of the Great Hall are, most probably,
19th century reproductions of 17th and 18th
century examples. The meaning of the
concept of “authenticity” for historical objects
in a 19th century collection was discussed by
Crane 2000, 121‑123.
17
In 1867, Ferdinand made a large acquisition
in Lisbon of furniture and textiles for the
decoration of the Grreat Hall (AHCB, Núcleo
de D. Fernando II, Livro de Contas Pagas com
Recibos Separados, maço 403).
18
>>
Fig. 3 Two pairs of window sashes from
Necessidades Palace, today in Pena
National Palace, Sintra — © PSML/L.Pavão
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RHA 03 83 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
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The decision of mounting stained‑glass panels in the Great
Hall of Pena Palace, which is the main room of the house,
directly derives from German and Swiss contexts (Hediger
2010, 167‑179) and no Portuguese precedent exist. In fact,
it seems that at Pena the collector still has the intention
of exhibiting his Central European roots. Not only was this
room chosen for displaying part of the collection, but the
objects themselves also contribute for this discourse. The
most northwestern window of the room is almost entirely
filled with revival panes depicting iconic moments of Central
European medieval history, such as Heinrich I receiving the
royal insignia, the Union of Kalmar, Alfred the Great as harpist
in the Danish camp or the Swiss confederacy oath in Rütli
(Gaspar 2011).
The main feature of the whole collection is its
chronological and thematic diversity. Despite the absence of
13th century items, there is a small but representative set of
religious themes from the late Middle Ages. The oldest panel,
representing Lady Agnes of Bavaria, dates back to 1314‑1320
and it was part of a window from the Seligenthal monastery,
Fig. 4 The Great Hall of Pena National
Palace, Sintra — © PSML/EMIGUS
RHA 03 in Landshut, and which today is dispersed throughout several
locations, namely London and Munich 19. An interesting group
is the one composed by three panes from the 15th or early
16th century depicting Saint Ambrose, Saint Gregory and
the Virgin of the Apocalypse which seem to have had the
same origin, but which is yet unknown. From the 16th to the
18th centuries there are exemplars from the most common
types produced in Switzerland, the German territory and the
Low Countries, such as six Kabinetscheiben, twelve complete
armorial representations in both quadrilateral and circular
surfaces, fourteen objects representing biblical stories and
allegorical themes, circa fifty small pieces of glass depicting
animals or flowers and approximately one hundred and
twenty Bierscheiben. And finally, the 19th century with the
historical panes in the Great Hall of Pena Palace, as well as
with many filling pieces for incomplete panes, contribute
to create a very syncretic set of objects. This taste for
syncretism can also be found in the composition of the
collection of tridimensional glass.
The collection of tridimensional glass
As in the previous case, it is unknown when Ferdinand
started to collect glass objects. The earliest known receipt
dates back to 1852 20, but there is documentation for
sixty‑five glass objects acquired between 1862 and 1864 21.
The intense acquisition of objects within such a short
period allows one to wonder again about the collector’s
motivation: could it be a desire to conclude the Stag Room
or was it simply an effect of fashion? Bearing in mind that
the project for the Stag Room was probably abandoned
during the 1850’s 22, one should also note that the popularity
84 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
of collections of glass objects was spreading during the
middle of the century and great collectors emerged during
this period: Felix Slade (1788‑1868), Wollaston Franks
(1826‑1897), Alfred‑Émilien O’Hara, count of Nieuwerkerke
(1811‑1892), and Alfred, duke of Saxe‑Coburg and Gotha
(1844‑1900), to mention just a few. The way these collectors
displayed their glass objects do not seem to have any
relation to the revival projects designed by Rühl or Karl
Friedrich Schinkel (1781‑1841) 23. Hence trying to explain
Ferdinand’s glass collection only through an affirmation of
Germanic past is to ignore a significant trend among art
collectors of the time. Although Rühl’s project presents an
important reference to German preservationist culture, the
glass collection that the King eventually assembled is not
limited to German enameled glass.
Ferdinand collected more than 200 glass objects, but the
assembled pieces and the way he displayed them do seem to
follow a common practice among contemporary collectors.
One of the shared characteristics is the diversity of the
set. Ferdinand’s collection comprised Venetian, Bohemian,
German, English, Iberian, and ancient Roman pieces. Another
common characteristic is the isolation of glass from other
artistic works. Like Ralph Bernal (Bohn 1857), Richard
Wallace (Higgott 2011, 30) or Alfred of Saxe‑Coburg and
Gotha (Netzer and Leibing 1986, 4‑7), Ferdinand designated
special places for his glass objects. While paintings, ceramics
and silverware were scattered throughout the domestic
space, glass kept its autonomy: at Pena Palace, inside a
showcase in a hallway; and at the main residence in Lisbon,
the Necessidades Palace, in a room entirely dedicated to
this collection: the Sala dos Vidros, i.e. the Glass Room.
19
In 1998, Daniel Hess made a report about
this panel where he identified it as part of the
window of the Seligenthal monastery (Hess
1998, 1).
In 1852 Baron von Eschwege bought
lead came for the window of the chapel of
Pena Palace and several pieces of old glass
[vidros antigos] in Brunswick. It is not clear
if these vidros antigos refer to stained‑glass
or tridimensional objects (AHCB, Núcleo
de D. Fernando II: Livro de documentos de
despezas. Junho de 1853).
20
In the Archive of the Personal Office of the
King: AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II: Livros
de documentos de despezas. Setembro,
Outubro e Dezembro 1862, Fevereiro e Abril
1863, Janeiro, Setembro e Novembro 1864;
Documentos Avulsos, maço 402 e envelope
1863‑1867, 5ª Sala; Contas e documentos de
Sua Magestade a Países Estrangeiros, maço 3.
21
22
See note 6.
More information about the displays
created by Nieuwerkerke are available in
Higgott 2011, 23‑27.
23
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RHA 03 85 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
Fig. 5 Humpen, Germany, 19 th century,
PNP256 — © PSML/L.Pavão
The final common feature is the way the objects were
displayed. Despite the absence of visual records from the
Glass Room at Necessidades Palace or from the showcase
at Pena Palace, an 1886 description of the former survived.
The display seems to follow a geometrical order organized
according to symmetry and the sizes of the objects, instead
of concerns with production or artistic style. Therefore, on
one of the top shelves, an ancient roman cinerary urn was
sided by two revival Humpen [fig. 5], while on the lower
shelf a Venetian tazza was sided by two Bohemian jugs
followed by a German Humpen on each side 24.
The explanation for the spread of similar collecting
practices involving glass may be found on the network of
collectors and a flourishing art market which looked for
supplying the increasing demand. Not only were these
collectors buying the same kind of objects and displaying
them in similar ways, they were also buying in the same
places. Some of the art dealers who sold objects to
Ferdinand were also supplying objects to some of the most
renowned collectors.
The little information we retrieved from the receipts from
the Archive of the Personal Office of the King allowed us to
acknowledge, as above mentioned, that a set of sixty‑five
objects was acquired between 1862 and 1864 25. There are
receipts from the dealers H. Stampa, João José Dantas,
António Rafael and Sebastião Ferreira d’Almeida in Lisbon,
A. S. Drey in Munich, Tito Gagliardi and Antonio Rusca in
Florence, Alfred Beurdeley and Durand in Paris, and Moritz
Meyer in Dresden (Appendix I).
The period when these acquisitions took place not only
saw the formation of important private collections, but it
24
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II:
Apontamentos sobre as preciosas
collecções de Sua Magestade El‑Rei
O Senhor D. Fernando no Real Palacio das
Necessidades, maço 43, 1886.
25
See note 19.
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RHA 03 also saw the formation and expansion of some important
public collections around Europe, namely in England, such as
the South Kensington Museum (today’s Victoria and Albert
Museum) and the British Museum. This is a very important
fact, because most of the receipts of Ferdinand’s acquisitions
concern art dealers whom were also providing works of art
to those collections (South Kensington Museum Division
1867, Martinho and Vilarigues 2012). Some of the objects we
find in today’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), and which
were acquired during about the same period of Ferdinand
acquisitions, are very similar in style to the latter’s set (see
Appendix II). The V&A objects were mostly acquired in
auctions from collectors, like Ralph Bernal (1783‑1854),
James Bandinell (1783‑1849) and Jules Soulages (1803‑1857),
but others were purchased separately (South Kensington
Museum 1867 and 1878). With no further information besides
the price, it is not possible to be sure if similar objects could
have been provided by the same art dealers. However, the
fact that the South Kensington Museum director at the
time, Henry Cole, was dealing with Antonio Rusca, Tito
Gagliardi and A. S. Drey can be an evidence of a common
trend, for these same art dealers are the ones mentioned in
Ferdinand’s receipts (Wainwright 1999, 171‑175, and 2002,
45‑61; Martinho and Vilarigues 2012).
The apparent relation between the art dealers and the
collectors seems to be an important matter. As far as our
knowledge on the subject allows us to understand, the
collectors — whether with or without communication among
each other — seem to be acquiring objects with similar
typology or taste to a restrict group of dealers of antiquities.
In another words, it almost seems that the list of dealers of
86 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
antiques is available to all these 19th century collectors. And
would there be any possibility?
The travellers of the 19th century were often guided by
travel books, like the series of A Handbook for Travellers by
John Murray, which curiously had a list of advertisements
and correspondence mentioning the names of Tito Gagliardi,
from Florence, and Mortiz Meyer, from Dresden, in a large
set of editions (see, for instance, the following exemplars:
France, Greece, Germany and Denmark) (Murray 1843, 1872,
1873 and 1875). The fact is that Ferdinand II acquired a great
part of his own glass collection during his journeys around
Europe (Martinho and Vilarigues 2012). Jules Soulages 26
appeared to have done something similar before him, since
Soulages formed his collection as a result of repeated tours
through Italy, chiefly during the period between 1830 and
1840 (Robinson 1856). We know that Henry Cole possessed
one of Murray’s handbooks, that he travelled in order to
purchase artworks for the South Kensington Museum and
that he added the name of Antonio Rusca in pencil to the
section on dealers in his copy of the Handbook for Travellers
in Northern Italy, edition of 1853 (Wainwright 1999, 171‑185).
These facts suggest that the information was reaching these
collectors by means of some sort of “handbook of dealers
of antiques” or a “travel guide”. Although we have no proof
that Ferdinand could have had a copy of Murray’s handbook
or any other alike document, this opens the possibility that
the reason why the King chose to purchase so many glass
objects abroad was perchance because he was being guided
by advice of a book of the same sort.
If on one hand Antonio Rusca, Tito Gagliardi and A. S.
Drey were related with Ferdinand and the South Kensington
26
One of the collectors from whom Henry
Cole acquired objects, after the former’s
death. Some of the glass objects acquired,
and now in the asset of the V&A have
similarities with the glass objects form
Ferdinand II collection.
ANTT, DGFP, Arrolamento dos Paços
Reais, Arrolamento do Palácio Nacional da
Necessidades, Verba nº 809.
27
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RHA 03 Museum, on the other hand both Louis‑Auguste‑Alfred
Beurdeley (1808‑1882) and Tito Gagliardi are documented
to be selling works of art to Ferdinand II and Alfred‑Émilien
O’Hara, count of Nieuwerkerke (Mann 1981, 305; Higgott
2011, 72). In December 1865, Alfred Beurdeley sold to
Nieuwerkerke a footed bowl of lattimo and blue filigree (Acc.
No. C521, The Wallace Collection), that was later acquired
by Sir Richard Wallace (Higgott 2011, 72). This glass object
bears a striking similarity with the two footed bowls of
the same filigree pattern that were at the Glass Room in
Necessidades Palace in 1910 (MNAA 1002 vid and 1003 vid) 27
[fig. 6]. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to ascertain
if these two objects were already in the possession of
Ferdinand II or if they were acquired by the Portuguese royal
family after his death. In addition, the receipts of the twelve
glass objects that Beurdeley sold to Ferdinand in June
1863 to do not provide undoubted descriptions which allow
a correspondence with those two glass pieces. However,
Beurdeley also sold to Ferdinand a large beaker with white
and blue filigree and lion masques (Acc. No. MNAA1066,
National Museum of Ancient Art) [fig. 7], which is almost
identical to a beaker that the South Kensington Museum
obtained from the collection of Ralph Bernal (Acc. No.
1864‑1855, V&A).
Despite the fact that the descriptions are not as detailed
as one wished, the receipt of Beurdeley offers valuable
information regarding the provenance of some of the
objects. As an example, “2 coupes sur piedonche à filets
blancs (verre de Venise)” that were bought for 250 francs
and “un gobelet à pied peu élevé en verre agathé hauteur
12c/” (possibly, today in the National Museum of Ancient
87 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
Art in Lisbon, MNAA959) [fig. 8] had been in the collection
of Louis Fould (1794‑1858) 28, which went for auction in
June 1860 in Paris (Catalogue… 1860). Louis Fould was
an important collector who amassed Egyptian, Classical
and Renaissance artistic objects, but his gatherings were
dispersed after his death (Darcel 1860, 266‑293), which was
(as it is today) rather common. In fact, Beurdeley sold to
Ferdinand works of art which had such diverse provenances
as the collection of Louis Fidel Debruge‑Duménil, the
Soltikoff Collection and the Norzy Collection 29.
Due to the intricate construction of the network
of collectors and dealers during the 19th century, the
relationship between Ferdinand’s collection and other
collections from the high society of the time can only
be established, to our present knowledge, by the
comparison of glass objects in style and typology
(see Appendix II).
One of those collections belonged to Ferdinand’s first
cousin once removed Alfred, III Duke of Saxe‑Coburg and
Gotha — particularly in the Venetian and à façon‑de‑Venise
set of objects (Martinho and Vilarigues 2012). Parallels
between this collection and the one assembled by the
lawyer Felix Slade, who bequeathed his collection to the
Bristish Museum, has already been established. Besides,
it also comes to our knowledge that Sir Wollaston Franks
(1826‑1897), Keeper of British and Mediaeval Antiquities
and Ethnography at the British Museum from 1866,
played a key role in the organization of Slade’s collection
and that he maintained connections with Prince Albert
(Theuerkauff‑Liederwald 1994, 14‑16). Therefore, it might be
that the collecting practices of Ferdinand, Alfred and Slade,
Receipt from A. Beurdeley, 23 June 1863
in AHCB, Núcleo D. Fernando, Doc. Avulsos,
(Maço 402).
28
Receipt from A. Beurdeley, 23 June 1863 in
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II, Documentos
Avulsos, maço 402.
29
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Fig. 6 Footed bowl, Venice or Low
Countries, 16th-17th century, MNAA1002
— © A. Rodrigues
Fig. 7 Beaker, Venice or Low Countries, 17th
century, MNAA1066 — © A. Rodrigues
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or even Albert, are connected in some way we have not yet
been able to properly understand 30.
Slade, who died in 1868, was known to be a distinguished
collector of books, prints and glass. His will was to leave his
art treasures to the nation and a large amount of his fortune
was left for the purpose of funding fine arts at Cambridge
and Oxford Universities, as well as University College, in
London (Macdonald 2004, 269; Vv.Aa. 1871, Preface). Like
other collectors from his time, Slade gathered a set of
Venetian glass works of relevant “artistic and decorative
character”, because they attracted his attention, as well as
the attention of friends like Mr. George S. Nicholson and Sir
Charles Price. From Felix Slade own words, one may know
that glass was not cared for in a recent past, but by about
the middle of the 19th century, collectors were starting to
realise the importance of this artworks (Vv.Aa. 1871, Preface).
The art patronage of both Ferdinand and Slade arises the
question whether the Portuguese King was merely following
the fashion of his time or, instead, creating in Portugal, the
same way Slade created in England, an unrivalled collection
rescued piece by piece, that he thought it might ‘furnish
pleasure and instruction to future generations’ (Vv.Aa. 1871,
Preface) 31.
Fig. 8 Goblet, Venice or à façon de
Venise, possibly 17th century, MNAA959
— © A. Rodrigues
Final remarks
Looking at all these similarities, King Ferdinand II’s collection
seems quite like a mirror of the 19th century glass collecting
practise. If the original project for the Stag Room reveals
the King’s intention to preserve the past through historical
objects, the selection of the objects would eventually be
determined by wider influences, in particular the common
taste and sensibility of his collecting time, which can almost
be regarded as a collecting fashion. However, the result
is always an assemblage that mirrors the collector’s own
identity. And to recall Jean Baudrillard, to whom “the image
of the self is extended to the very limits of the collection […]
for it is invariably oneself that one collects” (Baudrillard 1994,
12), we are inclined to conclude that the formative years,
family and social networks, as well as travels shape indelibly
the collection of Ferdinand of Saxe‑Coburg and Gotha.
About the connections between the
Saxe‑Coburg and Gotha collections of Coburg
and Windsor, see Bosbach and Davis 2006.
30
The communal aim of the private collection
in the 19th century has been mentioned by
Crane 2000, p.148. Cristina Ramos e Horta
also showed how the collection of ceramics
of King Ferdinand II could be visit by
contemporary artists for appreciation and
study (Horta 2014, 85ff).
31
90 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
RHA 03 Abbreviations
AHCB: Arquivo Histórico da Casa de Bragança, Vila Viçosa.
ANTT: Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Lisbon.
MNAA: Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon
PNP: Palácio Nacional da Pena, Sintra
V&A: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Sources
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II, Livro de Contas Pagas com Recibos Separados,
maço 403.
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II: Apontamentos sobre as preciosas collecções
de Sua Magestade El‑Rei O Senhor D. Fernando no Real Palacio das
Necessidades, maço 43, 1886.
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II: Contas e documentos de Sua Magestade a
Países Estrangeiros, maço 3.
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II: Documentos Avulsos, maço 402 e envelope
1863‑1867, 5ª Sala.
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II: Livros de documentos de despezas. Junho de
1853, Setembro, Outubro e Dezembro 1862, Fevereiro e Abril 1863, Janeiro,
Setembro e Novembro 1864.
ANTT, DGFP, Arrolamento dos Paços Reais, Arrolamento do Palácio Nacional da
Necessidades.
Bohn, H G, and Bernal, Ralf. 1857. A Guide to the Knowledge of Pottery,
Porcelain, and Other Objects of Vertu: Comprising an Illustrated Catalogue
of the Bernal Collection of Works of Art, with the Prices at Which They Were
Sold by Auction, and the Names of the Present Possessors. To Which Are
Added an Introductory Essay on Pottery and Procelain, and an Engraved List
of Marks and Monograms. Bohn’s Illustrated Library. H. G. Bohn
Leitão, Ruben Andresen. 1940. Documentos dos Arquivos de Windsor. Coimbra:
Instituto Britânico em Portugal.
South Kensington Museum, 1867. Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division
of the Museum at South Kensington: Arranged According to the Dates of
Their Acquisition. For the years 1852 to the end of 1867, Volume 1, South
Kensington Museum Art Division.
South Kensington Museum, 1878. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Glass Vessels in
the South Kensington Museum. London: Science and Art Department of the
Committee of Council on Education, South Kensington Museum.
V.v. A.a. 1871. Catalogue of the Collection of Glass formed by Felix Slade. London:
Wertheimer, Lea and Co. Printers, Finsbury Circus.
Bibliography
Anon. 1860. Catalogue de la précieuse collection d’objets d’art d’antiquités et de
tableaux de feu M. Louis Fould, dont la vente aux enchères publiques aura lieu
rue de Berry, 29 le lundi 4 juin 1860 et jours suivants (...). Paris: Roussel.
Ayres, Tim, et al. 2012. Collections of Stained Glass and their Histories.
Transactions of the 25th International Colloquium of the Corpus Vitrearum in
Saint Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, 2010. Bern: Peter Lang AG.
Baudrillard, Jean. 1994. “The System of Collecting” in The Cultures of
Collecting, edited by John Elsner and Roger Cardinal, 7‑24. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Bosbach, F., Davis, J. R. 2007. Windsor — Coburg/Windsor — Coburg.
Prinz‑Albert‑Studien, Book 25. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Crane, Susan A. 2000. Collecting & Historical Consciousness in Early
Nineteenth‑Century Germany. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Darcel, Alfred. 1860. “La collection Louis Fould” in Gazette des Beaux‑Arts,
vol. 6. Paris, 266‑293.
Gaspar, Nuno, “Os vitrais do Palácio da Pena e a colecçao de D. Fernando II:
contributos para o seu estudo.” MA diss., Universidade de Lisboa, 2011.
Hediger, Christine, 2008. “Überlegungen zur Funktion der Architekturrahmen in
den frühneuzeitlichen Schweizer Einzelscheiben” in Les panneaux de vittrail
isolés. Actes du XXIVe Colloque International du Corps Vitrearum Zurich,
167‑179. Bern: Peter Lang, 2010.
Hess, Daniel. 1998. Mittelalteriche Glasgemälde im Palácio Nacional da Pena in
Sintra (Portugal). Report delivered to Pedro Redol (copy available at Pena
National Palace).
Higgott, Suzanne. 2011. The Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Glass and Limoges
Painted Enamels. London: The Trustees of the Wallace Collection.
Horta, Cristina Ramos e, Manuel Mafra (1831‑1905) e as Origens da Cerâmica
Artística das Caldas da Rainha [PhD dissertation]. Lisbon: Universidade de
Lisboa, 2014.
Lopes, Maria Antónia. 2013. D. Fernando II. Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores.
MacDonald, Stuart. 2004. The History and Philosophy of Art Education.
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Mann, Sir J. G. 1981. Wallace Collection Catalogues. Sculpture, 2nd ed. London:
The Trustees of the Wallace Collection. Cited in Rainey, L S. 1991. Ezra Pound
and the Monument of Culture: Text, History, and the Malatesta Cantos.
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Martinho, Bruno A, and Vilarigues, Márcia. 2011. Stained Glass and Glass
Objects: Ferdinand II’s passion. Sintra: Parques de Sintra, Monte da Lua, S.A.
Martinho, Bruno A, and Vilarigues, Márcia. 2012. “The Glass Collection of King
Ferdinand II of Portugal: assembling the puzzle”. Paper presented at the
19th International Congress of the Association International pour l’Histoire Du
Verre, Piran — Slov. 18th — 22nd Sept. 2012 (in press).
Murray, John (ed). 1873. A Handbook for Travellers in Southern Germany.
London: John Murray (Firm), 12th edition (e‑book).
Murray, John (ed). 1875. A Handbook for Travellers in Denmark, with Sleswig
and Holstein (and Iceland). London: John Murray (Firm), 4th edition (e‑book).
Murray, John (ed). 1843. Hand‑Book for Travellers in France. London: John
Murray (Firm) (e‑book).
Murray, John. 1872. A Handbook for Travellers in Greece: Describing the Ionian
Islands, Continental Greece, Athens, and the Peloponnesus, the Islands of the
Ægean Sea, Albania, Thessaly, and Macedonia. London: John Murray.
Netzer, Susanne, and Leibing, Klaus. 1986. Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg.
Die Glassammlung. Munich: Verlag Schnell & Steiner.
Pradié‑Ottinger, Bénédicte. 2002. L’Art et la Chasse. Histoire Culturelle et
Artistique de la Chasse. Tournai: La Renaissance du Livre.
Saldern, Axel von. 1965. German Enameled Glass. The Edwin J. Beinecke
Collection and Related Pieces. New York: The Corning Museum of Glass.
Teixeira, José. 1986. D. Fernando II — Rei‑Artista Artista‑Rei. Vila Viçosa:
Fundação da Casa de Bragança.
Theuerkauff‑Liederwald, Anna‑Elisabeth. 1994. Venezianisches Glas Der
Kunstsammlungen Der Veste Coburg: Die Sammlung Herzog Alfreds von
Sachsen‑Coburg und Gotha (1844‑1900): Venedig, à la façon de Venise,
Spanien, Mitteleuropa. Lingen: Luca Verlag.
Wainwright, Clive, and Gere, Charlotte. 2002. “The making of the South
Kensington; Museum III — Collecting abroad” in Journal of the History of
Collections, 14 (1), edited by Charlotte Gere and Carolyn Sargentson, 45‑61.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wainwright, Clive. 1999. “Shopping for South Kensington; Fortnum and Henry
Cole in Florence 1858‑1859” in Journal of the History of Collections, 11 (2),
edited by Charlotte Gere, 171‑185. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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91 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
RHA 03 Appendix I
List of receipts at the Arquivo Histórico da Casa de Bragança, in Vila Viçosa, regarding the acquisition of glass objects for
Ferdinand II of Saxe‑Coburg and Gotha.
Reference
City
Dealer
Date of receipt
Object
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II: Livro de Documentos de Despeza. Agosto 1853
Lisbon
H. Stampa
4 August 1853
“Por 1 Par Vasos Vidro 27000 [reis]”
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II: Livro de Documentos de Despeza. Setembro 1862
Lisbon
João José Dantas
August 1862
“2 garrafas e hua Bandeija Vidro da Boemia 4500 [reis];
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II: Livro de Documentos de Despeza. Outubro 1862
Lisbon
th
1 Callix Com gravura e hum Copo grande e outro piqueno da Boemia
90000 [reis]”
João José Dantas
11th October 1862
“Hum Callix grande azul hu dito piqueno verde
hu vidro redondo com gravuras
hu frasco esmaltado de cores tudo da Boemia pelo preço 22500
Tres frascos com tres quina Cada hum lapidados da Boemia preço
13500”
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II: Livro de Documentos de Despeza. Dezembro 1862
Lisbon
António Rafael
18th November
1862
“1 Pipa de vidro 4$500”
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II: Livro de Documentos de Despeza. Abril 1862
Lisbon
João José Dantas
29th April 1863
“hum prato de Vidro de Veneza por 27000”
Núcleo D. Fernando II
Paris
Durand
9th June 1863
“1 Verre de Bohéme grave avec couvercle [?] — 25”
Paris
Alfred Beurdeley
11th June 1863
“Une coupe verre de Vénise à couvercle à filets blancs — 400,
Contas e Documentos de Sua Magestade a
Países Estrangeiros
Maço 3
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II, Documentos
Avulsos, maço 402
2 coupes sir piedonche à filets blancs (verre de Venise) Collection Louis
Fould — 250,
Un seau avec mascarons verre de Vénise, sur larouse [?] pour des
mascarons en relief (…) — 350,
Um grand seau en verre de Vénise dit Vetro Ghiacciato Collection
Cralopp [?] — 350,
(…) un gobelet à pied peu élevé en verre agathé hauteur 12c/ Collon
Louis Fould — 150,
(…) Une coupe rubis verre de Vénise (…) XVe siècle — 600, un petit
gobelet avec filets à la pointe de diamante — 70,
une petite coupe verre de Vénise avec coubercle, filigranée sur
piedonche avec lossange — 150,
un vase de forme cylindrique avec bord legèrement évasé, il est travaillé
de 2 cannes alternant; l’une en bleu céleste l’autre rouge opaque,
séparées par trois cannes de verre vlanc mat, le tout disposé en spirale,
avec masques de lions dorés Vte Soltikoff nº841 — 350,
2 petites buíres opales, verre de Vénise (Collon Fould) — 200,
une bouteille, olive, verre de Vénise — 100”
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II, Documentos
Avulsos, envelope 1863‑1867, 5ª sala
Florence
Tito Gagliardi
10 July 1863
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II, Contas e
Documentos de Sua Magestade a Países
Estrangeiros, maço 3
Florence
Antonio Rusca
10 July 1863
th
“1. Grand Calice en Verre de Venise: francs 80;
2 Bocals en Verre de Venise a 60 francs chaque”
th
“Nº5 pezzi di Vetro cioè [?]
Calicetto com coppa rossa Fchi.200
Boccia trinata com mascheroni Fchi.200
Tazza a righe dorate Fchi.300
Tazza trinata in bianco e giallo Fchi.80
Tazza a venturina com fondo rosso Fchi.120”
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92 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
RHA 03 Reference
City
Dealer
Date of receipt
Object
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II, Documentos
Avulsos, maço 402
Munich
A. S. Drey
20th August 1863
“3 diverse geschliffene Gläser mit Figuren,
AHCB, Núcleo de D. Fernando II: Livro de Documentos de Despeza. Janeiro 1864
Lisbon
Sebastião Ferreira
d’Almeida
30 January 1864
“Três vidros antigos por 6$750”
Núcleo D. Fernando
Dresden
Moritz Meyer
10th September
1864
“1 Copo grande de Cristal com as Armas da Russia Thlr60
Livro de Documentos de Despeza.
1 venetianer Glas hoch, schöne Faden [?]”
th
1 Dito mais pequeno de dito representa um triumpho romano. Thlr35”
Setembro 1864
“Venetianer Gläser:
1 Leuchter, auch als Trinkgefäss zu benutzen, mit kleinen Glasflügen.
1 Trinkgefäss, die seltenste Form, mit Flügeln;
1 Pokal mit Deckel, um den Pokal herum dia prachtvellsten
Glasverzierungen;
5 Figuren, klein, auf’s Feinste ausgeführt, Könige und Königinnen
vorstellend. Höchst selten Exemplare.
1 Schaale mit buntfarbigen Verzierungen, ein seltnes Cabinetsstück;
1 grosse Schaale (venetianisch Faden‑Glas);
1 Pokal (vielleicht einziges Exemplar), etwas beschädigt, aber der Art,
dass es den Werth nicht verringert;
1 Garnitur von bunten Achat‑Glas, bestehend au seiner tulpenförmigen
Mittelvase und zwei grossen Seitenvasen. In keiner Sammlung mehr zu
finden.
1 besonders schön verzierter Pokal;
1 dergleichen mit Flügeln;
1 dergleichen ohne Flügel;
1 schöne Schaale auf Fuss mit reichen Verzierungen Turiner Arbeit der
seltensten Art.”
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93 DOSSIER The Assemblage of a Distinct Glass Collection
RHA 03 Appendix II
Objects from King Ferdiand II’s collection with similarities to other objects in the collections of South Kensington Museum,
Veste Coburg, The Wallace Collection, and the British Museum. All were acquired about the same period of time.
King Ferdinand II
MNAA 946 vid
MNAA 947 vid
MNAA 962 vid
MNAA 964 vid
MNAA 966 vid
South Kensington Museum
Nr. 1866‑1855
MNAA 1068 vid
MNAA 1066 vid
MNAA 1070 vid
MNAA 1074 vid
MNAA 1086 vid
MNAA 1088 vid
MNAA 1093 vid
MNAA 1095 vid
The British Museum
S.431
HA 535
HA 284
HA 287
HA 357, HA 514
HA 356
1880,0513.2
C515
S.674
HA 372, HA 373, HA 374
MNAA 989 vid
MNAA 992 vid
MNAA 994 and MNAA 995 vid
MNAA 996 vid
MNAA 999 vid
MNAA 1002 vid
MNAA 1061 vid
The Wallace Collection
Nr. 184‑1879
Nr. 5547‑1859
MNAA 967 vid
MNAA 970 vid
MNAA 974 vid
MNAA 976 vid
MNAA 977 vid
MNAA 988 vid
MNAA 1003 vid
MNAA 1004 vid
MNAA 1038 vid
MNAA 1045 vid
MNAA 1047 vid
MNAA 1060 vid
Veste Coburg
HA 240
1878,1230.268 (shape)
HA 308
HA 289, HA 343
HA 532
C536 (similar style)
C543 (shape)
C521
Nr. 1883‑1855
Nr. 1914‑1855
Nr. 1810‑1855
a.S.611
a.S.614
S.642
Nr. 9021.‑‘63
Nr 1903‑1855; 1903a‑‘55; 1903e‑‘55;
1903f‑‘55; 1903g‑‘55;
Nr. 1864‑1855
Nr. 1608‑1855
1855,1201.157
HA 24 (similar. style)
Nr. 1901‑1855
Nr. 1811‑1855 (similar style)
Nr. 408‑1854
C539 (similar style)
S.874
C542
HA 685, HA 633, HA 696, HA 697,
HA 677
MNAA 1096 vid
MNAA 1097 vid
MNAA 1100 vid
MNAA 1101 vid
MNAA 1102 vid
HA 690
MNAA 1103 vid
MNAA 1104 vid
MNAA 1105 vid
MNAA 1117 vid
MNAA 1123 vid
MNAA 1124 vid
HA 226
HA 485 (lid)
Nr. 1814‑1855
Nr. 18221855
MNAA 1128 vid
MNAA 940‑943 vid / PNP 274/5
PNP 257
PNP 261
PNP 272
HA 495; HA 493, HA 492
HA 554, HA 555
Nr. 691852
Nr.
Nr.
Nr.
Nr.
671852
1517A‑1855
1844‑1855
5509‑1859
S.592
1871,1004.8
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FORGING THE
RENAISSANCE
ON THE USE OF GLASS PIECES
IN SPITZER’S (IN)FAMOUS
COLLECTION
abstract
resumo
The figure of the marchand and collectionneur Frédéric Spitzer
(1815-1890) shines with particular intensity in the empyrean
spheres of 19th century collecting.
Among the various sections making up his famous collection, the
admirable group of glass pieces that he skillfully assembled has a
place of honor. As a wise businessman, Spitzer was an interested
witness of a renewed attention paid to the industrie du verre
and carefully observant of its mise en scène for both national
and international expositions — and as seen in focused pages in
periodicals — practically dovetailing toward an aesthetic (and
commercial) goal in his Parisian hôtel particulier in 33, rue de
Villejust.
The picture emerging from this study enriches the complex
tale of the phenomenon of 19th century collecting in which the
sometimes (in)famous “Spitzerian” microcosm is revealed as
paradigmatic of an European scene characterized by a closely
woven network of players: marchands, collectors, connaisseurs,
museum curators, art critics and craftsmen.
A figura do comerciante e colecionista Frédéric Spitzer
(1815‑1890) brilha com particular intensidade nas esferas imperiais
do colecionismo do século xix.
Entre as diversas partes que compõem a sua célebre coleção,
o grupo admirável de peças de vidro habilmente reunido
por Spitzer tem lugar de honra. Como sábio empresário, foi
testemunha do interesse e da renovada atenção dada à indústria
do vidro, bem como um observador atento da mise en scène de
ambas as exposições nacionais e internacionais — e como pode
ser visto em páginas focadas no tema em publicações periódicas
— adotando uma perspetiva estética (e comercial) no seu palácio
particular na Rue de Villejust, 33, em Paris.O quadro que emerge a
partir deste estudo enriquece o conto complexo do fenómeno do
colecionismo do século xix, no qual o microcosmos Spitzeriano,
por vezes infame, é revelado como paradigmático dentro da cena
europeia caracterizada por uma rede de intervenientes finamente
tecida: comerciantes, colecionadores, connaisseurs, curadores de
museus, críticos de arte e artesãos.
Keywords
Historicism | 19th century collection | Art market | Stained
glass windows | Fakes
Palavras-Chave
Historicismo | Coleção do século XIX | Mercado de
Arte | Vitrais | Falsificações
Paola Cordera
Politecnico di Milano, Scuola del Design,
Italy
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C
elebrated by Édouard Garnier in the pages of the
Gazette des Beaux Arts 1, the glass collection of Frédéric
Spitzer must be read, studied and interpreted in light of his
formidable unifying encyclopedic and taxonomic project 2
that was arranged in the Parisian hôtel particulier in rue de
Villejust (now rue Paul Valéry), [fig. 1], formerly owned by
Charles Frédéric Jules, Baron de Nagler, Grand Chamberlain
of Prussia 3. In addition to being a peephole onto a world
of unfolding private and social life, this “machine à voir”
(Poulot 2008) was a museum space in which the different
artistic expressions gave life to an “encyclopédie tangible
et très complète de la production artistique des seizes
premiers siècles de notre ère 4”. It was unanimously
recognized that the completeness of such an ensemble
was comparable for consistency and quality only to the
illustrious collections of the South Kensington Museum
and the Musée de Cluny.
Among its peculiarities was its indissoluble integration
into the home of the owner, who had entrusted the
set up of the rooms with the image of his tastes and
personality. In perhaps a too radical way, we could say
that Spitzer planned the mansion to provide more than
mere access to an art gallery. Instead, he also planned to
offer a progressive sensorial experience realized through
an actual itinerary indispensible to the understanding of
the spaces of the entire museum and of its underlying
philosophy, proceeding — just like then‑contemporary
decorative and industrial arts exhibitions — through a
sequence organized first by type, then by chronology
or by artistic school. An inescapable point‑of‑reference,
in other words, even for a city like Paris, capital of the
art market and a crossroads of immense economic and
political interests.
In the 1885 Livre des collectionneurs, the name of Spitzer
as a glass collector is cited as a hors pair personality [fig. 2],
together with other French and Belgian curieux de verrerie.
Among the Parisian collectors the names of Édouard André,
Alexander Petrovich Basilewsky, Edmond Bonnaffé, Jules
Charvet, Aimé Desmottes, Paul Gasnault, Émile Gavet, Victor
Gay, Albert Goupil, Julien Gréau, Mme Jubinal de Saint Albin,
Alfred de Liesville, Lebeuf de Montgermont, Patrice‑Salin,
Adolphe de Rothschild, Charles Schefer and Charles Stein
appear. This growing interest in collecting vitreous pieces
might explain the reason why the decorative arts market
registered a significant increase in their monetary value, as is
confirmed by the previous Soltykoff (1861) 5 and Castellani
(1869) sales 6.
«Coupes, vases, cornets, calices, ampoules, bouteilles en
verre de Venise de XVe, XVIe et XVIe siècles» (Maze‑Sencier
1885: 1, 298) [fig. 3] cut fine figures in the display cabinets
in Spitzer’s home, together with German glass pieces (serie
XXVIII), stained‑glass windows (serie XXVIII) and reverse
paintings on glass (serie XXX) 7. The goal of completeness
— his collection was made up of about a hundred pieces —
probably guided the collector’s choices in the individuation
of types, together with various formal, chromatic and
technical qualities, that is, painting on enamel, graffito,
filigree and opalescent milk glass. Even the set up of the
pieces from the “Arabian” world (namely from Damascus
and Alexandria of Egypt) has to be considered in this
matrix. Placed (not by chance) nearby Venetian (Murano)
or Bavaria (the German and Bohemian glass pieces)
1 The vitreous materials (glass, ceramics and
painted enamels) were the object of research
of Édouard Garnier (1840‑1903), who was able
to examine the examples housed in public and
private collections (Bing, Spitzer, Mannheim
and Stein, among others). He was the author
of the studies of the glass objects in the
Spitzer collection, and later was involved in
the writing of the catalogue. Garnier 1884:
293‑310; Garnier 1891, 75‑87. I would like to
take this opportunity to thank Starleen K.
Meyer for her sensitive and evocative English
translation of my Italian original.
In this sense, completely analogous were
the Soltykoff, Nieuwerkerke, Basilewsky,
Wallace and Ferdinand Rothschild
(Waddesdon Manor) collections. On this
theme and on the recovery of the Ars Vitraria,
Higgott 2011, 19‑22.
2 On this theme, Cordera 2015 (forthcoming).
3 Letter to the Ministre de l’Instruction
publique, des Beaux Arts et des Cultes,
Paris, Paris 26 March 1893. Paris, Archives
Nationales, F/21/4036. On the multi‑faceted
figure of Spitzer as a marchand and a
collectionneur, Cordera 2014.
4 The Soltykoff glass collection could have
contained 76 examples, coming from the
Debruge Duménil collection. The Spitzer
collection was ideally associated with such
illustrious collections, also for the identical
aspirations «à offrir à l’historien des témoignages
du goût [...] et fournir à l’artiste des types et
des modèles mais encore réunir des objets en
assez grand nombre [...] qu’on pût étudier dans
sa collection les diverses applications de l’art à
l’ornementation des productions de l’industrie
[...]» (Dubois 1858, p. 7).
5 Reitlinger 1963, 2: 452‑456.
6 Of this last type of object, Spitzer was
among the most important collectors,
7 Fig. 1 P. Cordera and E. Albricci,
Hypothetical reconstruction of the Parisian
hôtel particulier of Frédéric Spitzer. Façade
facing rue de Villejust (drawing by E.
Albricci). Copyright © 2014 Paola Cordera
Fig. 2 La verrerie (Garnier 1891, 3: 75)
Fig. 3 Verreries Venitiennes. Fin du XVe siècle. Verrerie,
plate V (La Collection Spitzer: Antiquité, Moyen-Âge,
Renaissance. Paris: Maison Quantin, 1891, 3)
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Fig. 4 Phototypie Berthaud Frères,
Collection Spitzer. Verrerie, plate XLIX, 1893
(Bonnaffé and Molinier 1893)
glassware in the center of the planches XLIX and L of the
sales catalogue [fig. 4], the emphasis on these pieces then
gaining growing consensus in the world of collectors in
the second half of the 19th century again attests Spitzer’s
shrewdness and his unequalled foresight first and foremost
as a marchand and as a collector 8.
Spitzer’s corpus vitrearum shone, almost like the crowning
of the museum itinerary, in the last rooms of the museum:
one dedicated to the Renaissance, the other to the dramatic
arms gallery. Even if the photographs of the Musée Spitzer
only partially convey the display of the architectonic space,
the plates illustrating the sales catalogue succeed at least
partially in rendering the ways in which the works would
have been placed on the shelves in the display cabinets: in
measured symmetries and skillful arrangements 9.
Extraordinarily able in the «art du groupement, l’art des
rappels, l’entente des effets de clair‑obscur» (Müntz 1890,
IV), there is no doubt that Spitzer could have imagined the
polychrome exuberance of the vitreous pieces — majolica
and faïences, gilded metals and jewels in addition to the
together with Alessandro Castellani and
Vittorio Emanuele Tapparelli d’Azeglio.
A not secondary role in this sense probably
was played by his friendship with the Baron
Charles Davillier (1823‑1883) and the interest
of this collector for Iberian culture and for
the Hispano‑Moorish faïences. On this topic,
see «Collectionner l’Autre et l’Ailleurs: de
la curiosité à la reconnaissance?», Journée
d’études organisée par Dominique Poulot
(Hicsa — Université Paris I Panthéon‑Sorbonne)
et Mercedes Volait (Laboratoire InVisu —
CNRS/INHA), Paris, June 24, 2014.
8 Bonnaffé and Molinier 1893.
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Fig. 5 Paris, Musée Spitzer,
Renaissance Room, 1890
(Bonnaffé 1890)
glassware stricto sensu, as found in both the Baron Alphonse
de Rothschild and the Émile Gavet collections — as a
counterpoint to the metallic glints bouncing off of the arms
and armor in the subsequent room. In this way, the aesthetic
values of the single materials and the overall effect of the
whole were highlighted at one and the same time. Even
criticism less benevolently disposed toward Spitzer was
ready to recognize the significance of the collection as an
integral whole, more than the value and importance of the
individual pieces.
The accentuated theatricality of the ensemble, of which, in
all probability, Spitzer was the main designer, was to be even
more emphasized by the skylights inserted into the ceiling
directly over the objects in the Renaissance room [fig. 5].
Adopted by Spitzer in the room dedicated to enamel work
— but also by Alexandre Charles Sauvageot 10 and Prince
Alexander Basilewsky in their own galleries 11 — this solution
probably seemed particularly ingenious in that it permitted
the homogenous fall of light filtered through a glass ceiling
with white and gold‑edged coffers.
This system, already applied at the beginning of the 18th
century in the gallery of the Duke of Orlèans in the Palais
Royal of Paris, was perfectly in line with the innovative
suggestions coming from new museum displays in which
particular attention was paid to the illumination and to
the exposition set up, as seen, for example, in the Louvre
Museum of Paris, the Alte Pinakothek of Munich, the Glass
and Ceramics Gallery of the British Museum and in the
National Gallery of London. The (probably red) fabric on
the floor was perhaps a way to avoid the inconvenience of
the light rays that, cascading from above, would have been
reflected upwards, thereby compromising the aesthetic
vision of the whole. Furthermore, it probably contributed to
creating a kind of “display cabinet environment” in which
the “magnetic” characteristics of each single piece were
translated and put in relationship with the architectonic
scale.
The provenance of the individual pieces of the Spitzer
collection is generally vague or full of lacunae, even if this
may not derive from the difficulty of historic witnesses.
«[...] l’indication des provenances fait‑elle défaut aujourd’hui
pour certain nombres d’objets, et il nous faut attendre du
hasard la reconstitution de leur état civil» (Müntz 1890, II).
As a matter of fact, references to unknown obscurs villages
Alexandre‑Charles Sauvageot (Paris,
1781‑1860) was a musician and art collector.
The famous painting by Arthur Henry
Roberts Vue intérieure d’une des pièces de
l’appartement de Monsieur Sauvageot, 56 fbg
Poissonnière, 1857 (Paris, Musée du Louvre,
inv. MI 861) celebrated Sauvageot himself in
his dining room surrounded by his collection
of medieval and Renaissance art objects.
10
Alexander Petrovich Basilewsky (1829‑1899)
was a Russian diplomat and art collector in
Paris in the second half of the 19th century.
Celebrated for Early Christian and Byzantine
objects, his collection was reorganized in
the hôtel particulier at 31 rue Blanche. Put
up for sale in 1885, it was acquired en bloc
by the Tsar Alexander III. Dating to about
1870, a watercolor executed by the Russian
11
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adventurously discovered in England, Germany and Russia
were constantly made. This incompleteness, which officially
could be ascribed to the rapidity with which the collection
was formed, seems more due to an undisputed acute
opportunism (when not a deliberate mystification), rather
than to a supposed defective memory or to the material
impossibility of meticulously registering the provenance of
individual acquisitions.
Such considerations appear even more pertinent in light
of the by now documented network of artists and craftsmen
working for Spitzer. Taking up the hypothesis formulated by
Rudolf Distelberger (Distelberger 2000), Charles Truman
(Truman 2012) has imagined a number of artists (namely
Reinhold Vasters and Alfred André among others) at the
center of truly an (in)famous network of ‘forgers’ working
for Spitzer who, bolstered by the consensus derived from his
expertise as guarantor of the authenticity of the objects sold,
acted instead as author and coordinator of the fraudulent
release on the antique market of heavily refurbished objects
sold as authentic originals.
Spitzer probably reserved for himself the role of
intermediary, perhaps even suggesting to the artists/artisans
working with him particular interventions of re‑composition
and assembly of objects that often were available on the
art market only in a fragmentary state. In their hands, the
objects were assembled into an (imaginary) unity. In all
likelihood, he also probably commissioned such pieces. In
this context must be seen the research of Juanita Navarro
and Suzanne Higgot highlighting how some glass pieces
formerly in the Spitzer collection have to be considered
hybrids, that is, the re‑composition and assembly of glass
fragments into a whole (invariably ringed) in order to offer
to clients an exhaustive reading of the single pieces and,
consequently, to facilitate the admission of the pieces onto
the antique market 12.
The few pieces for which provenance can be established
— coming from the collections of Albert von Parpart of
Cologne 13, the prince of Liechtenstein 14, Debruge Duménil,
Soltykoff and Saint Seine 15 — belonged, obviously, to
those famous collections that could give luster to Spitzer’s
collection, thereby implicitly attesting to the indisputable
quality of his pieces and conferring on them a kind of “noble
seal of approval.” This modus operandi was influenced by
that goût Rothschild that Spitzer, an assiduous frequenter
of the prestigious house and eager for continuous social
affirmation, invariably had taken into account. In other words,
the aura of the individual objets d’art was amplified by the
prestigious provenance, and reverberated throughout his
entire collection. The elegiac tones of the comparison made
shine, almost by symbiosis, the (artistic, but also strictly
venal and market) value of the pieces of the collection and,
consequently, the collection as a whole.
Together with others, Spitzer’s glass collection was part
and parcel of an age that can be identified truly as an
apogee of a cognitive journey that researched glass under
the guise of theoretical treatises 16, in addition to ex‑novo
productions 17 and of its exhibition/promotion, even for
the public‑at‑large in the setting of then‑contemporary
expositions. At the same time, it was intended to be an
incentive for the then‑contemporary production. The
weave of research, rediscovery and, last but not least, new
painter Vasilij Vereschagin shows him in the
background of his own collection, while intent
on reading (Saint Petersburg, Hermitage
Museum, inv. 45878). On his collection:
Kryzanovskaya 1990. On the theme of the set
up of collectors homes, Emery and Morowitz
2004.
Navarro and Higgott have identified pieces
of this type at the Victoria & Albert Museum
of London (inv. 698‑1893) and the Musée
Curtius of Liège (inv. B/1057). Similar pieces
belonged to the contemporary collections
of Alessandro Castellani (1823‑1883) and of
Alfred Beurdeley (1808‑1882). Navarro and
Higgott, 2013‑2014.
12
13
Bonnaffé and Molinier, 1893, n. 1997.
14
15
Idem, n. 1992.
Idem, n. 1979.
Among others, see Lenoir 1856; Salviati
1867.
16
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production had to collaborate in the success of these artistic
adventures.
In this context, the exposition rétrospective of the Union
Centrale des Arts Décoratifs taking place in Paris in 1884
assumes particular importance. For this exhibit, ample space
was given to the arts du feu (faïences, ceramics, porcelain,
Limoges enamels and verreries of all kinds). Sans precedents
was the space dedicated to stained glass windows set up
“dans son ensemble et d’une façon générale” in a room
arranged according to the instructions of the architect,
Lucien Magne (1849‑1916) 18, a consultant for Eugène
Emmanuel Viollet‑le‑Duc (1814‑1879) and later the deus
ex‑machina of the Musée du Vitrail that opened the following
year 19.
Already widespread in England in the middle of the
18th century, the interest in such objects — to be interpreted
in the climate of revivals prevalent in Europe that especially
were focused on highlighting Gothic culture in its various
local declinations 20 — enjoyed renewed favor on French soil
after the secularization of ecclesiastical goods following the
storms of the revolution. Consequently, an important market
was forming in Europe, and important sales were held, for
example, in Norwich and London in 1804 and in Cologne in
1824. To purely historical interests were joined ornamental
evaluations, that is, the possibility that the windows offered
for the creation of particularly evocative spaces, in a way
not dissimilar from that intended by Alexandre Lenoir for
the Musée des Monuments Français with the windows from
Saint Denis (1795‑1816). Analagous criteria most probably
guided the forging of the collection of the vitrier Louis
Huin (1756‑1821) and the following analytical study and
reproduction of the French medieval stained glass windows
undertaken by Ferdinand de Lasteyrie (1810‑1879) 21. As the
collections of Heinrich Friedrich Karl Reichsfreiherr vom
und zum Stein (Baron vom Stein) in Nassau and Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe in Weimar attest, even the German
world, to which Spitzer always remained tied, manifested
interest in collecting these kinds of objects and in their
theatrical display.
With similar intent, Count Hermann Ludwig Heinrich
von Pückler‑Muskau had acquired five 15th century stained
glass windows coming from the Carmelite church of
Boppard‑am‑Rhein in Rheinland‑Pfalz 22 [fig. 6]. After they
were restored at the Königliches Institut für Glasmalerei
Berlin‑Charlottenburg at an unknown date after 1878 23,
Spitzer acquired these very objects to complete his Parisian
galerie d’armes et d’armures, “formidable vaisseau long de
17 mètres sur 8 mètres de hauteur” (Bonnaffé 1881, 289).
Particular importance had to be given to this galerie and
to the Cabinet de Travail since they were built between 1877
and 1880 as part of the refurbishment of the mansion in rue
de Villejust in the years just after Spitzer had bought the
building. Even if the documentation for these interventions
presents today a number of lacunae, they probably were
originally intended to help the mansion be a worthy
framework for the collector’s stage: thus, the gallery of
arms and the Cabinet de Travail probably were planned to
accommodate the stained glass windows, harmoniously.
On Renaissance tables the objects were «coquettement
couchées sur un vieux velours génois» (De Beaumont 1882,
XXV: 472) and protected by glass cases [fig. 7]. The tables
were positioned along the sides of the armory, especially
17
Soon the practice of ex‑novo production
joined that of the restoration of figured
stained glass of the 12th century, as masterfully
interpreted in the 1839 Passion window
by Louis Steinheil and Rebouleau for the
Saint‑Germain l’Auxerrois church in Paris.
This and other sites were to contribute in a
fundamental way to the development of the
production. On this subject, see Pillet 2012.
18
Magne 1885; Idem 1886.
On the success of stained glass in the
19th century, see Emery and Morowitz 2003.
The authors have noted that, in addition to
constituting a remarkable witness to the
renewed interest for these kind of objects in
such a context, these items were studied and
exhibited as fragments (even where it would
have been possible to do differently), as already
had happened on the occasion of the Universal
Exposition held in Paris in the 19th century.
19
Think of the re‑use of 13th century windows
from the cathedrals of Lincoln and Canterbury
at the end of the 18th century.
20
21
De Lasteyrie du Saillant 1853‑1857.
For a discussion about such a Corpus
vitrearum and the location of its dispersed
objects, Hayward 1969, 75‑114. On the
Glasmalereisammlung of Count von
Pückler‑Muskau, Bednarz and Fitz 2010,
383‑396.
22
These objects, known by Spitzer through
photographs, had to have been acquired
between 1878 and 1881. In Boppard-am-Rhein
in 1878 (Prusser 1878, 12), “douze vitraux
gigantesques” were described in the gallery
of arms in 1881 (Bonnaffé 1881, 289). On their
acquisition, possibly using the intermediation
of the collector and art dealer Charles
Mannheim, see Datz 2006, 128‑129. Accessed
October 1, 2014. http://ubm.opus.hbz‑nrw.de/
volltexte/2013/3514/pdf/doc.pdf.
23
Fig. 7 Paris, Musée Spitzer, Arms Gallery,
1890 (Bonnaffé 1890)
Fig. 6 Vitrail. Travail allemand XVe siècle.
Vitraux, plate II (La Collection Spitzer:
Antiquité, Moyen-Âge, Renaissance. Paris:
Maison Quantin. 1891, 3)
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Fig. 8 Vitrail. Travail français XVIe siècle.
Vitraux, plate III (La Collection Spitzer:
Antiquité, Moyen-Âge, Renaissance.
Paris: Maison Quantin. 1891, 3)
next to the windows, in order to receive the light
filtered by such monumental palimpsests. The
overall theatrical results probably were perfect for
parties and high society rassemblements.
As opposed to this room in which the many
colors of the light filtering through the stained glass
windows prevailed and contrasted with the dull gray
of the metals, in the Cabinet de travail the grisaille
windows were set up 24 [fig. 8]. This room was
intended to be a kind of resplendent antechamber to
the sacred space of the museum where friends and
companions were generously welcomed carefully
following a scrupulous ritual that they knew well, but
which was obscure to the un‑initiated. As a matter
of fact, the calmes et doux grey tones of the grisaille
were considered appropriate for harmonizing with
«les meubles de la Renaissance, les orfèvreries, les
bronzes, les faïences, les tapisseries» (Bonnaffé
1890) constituting a programmatic synthesis of the
collections in such a room. The French Renaissance
glass windows were desired in order to slash the
semi‑obscurity of the room with an ingenious
contrast of light and dark in which the preciousness
of the gilded oak ceiling interacted with the gleams
off of the panoply of arms and the reflections off of
the Hispano‑Moorish ceramic plates hanging on the
walls.
If the practice of adorning private homes was
already known in Paris — as is demonstrated by
the modern windows set up next to antique ones
in the homes of the writers Émile Zola and Pierre
24
This kind of room, always present in the
hagiographic description of collectors’ homes,
was realized under the direction of Spitzer,
himself, as part of the project of the building’s
renewal in 1877. Moreover, it was given a
glassed‑in space, set up like a green house,
as the then‑contemporary bourgeois life style
dictated. On this last subject, see Long 2007.
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Loti — quite theatrical was the way in which they were
exhibited by Spitzer, perhaps influenced by the way in which
the windows in the then‑contemporary English ateliers
were displayed in the Stained Glass Gallery at the Great
Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations of 1851 25.
Heretofore, not enough importance has been given to the
fact that Spitzer, himself, was documented in London right
during the entire crucial period of the spectacular epiphany
of the Enlightenment Encyclopédie and to the relevance this
legendary event might have had on his following career as a
collector and on the mise en scène of his Parisian hôtel 26.
Untiring voice of the “Spitzerian” epic together with Edmond
Bonnaffé, Émile Molinier never lost a chance to celebrate the
incomparable wisdom shown by Spitzer in such a display, but
above all when seen in light of the difficulty of setting up such
wares inside the exhibition spaces: museums and collectors’
houses 27. The fact that these windows displayed religious
subjects and that they had been stripped from a sacred
(Christian) space, far from seeming dissonant — still more in
the home of a Jewish collector — emphasized even more,
perhaps also thanks to the contrast, the sacredness of the
museum space, considered as a sort of shrine and as a mystic
place of pilgrimage for aristocrats who were enthusiasts of the
decorative arts. Their practical and decorative uses, values and
functions were thereby masterfully synthesized, almost as if
they transformed into concrete form the ideals promulgated
by Viollet‑le‑Duc to support the principle of the unity of the
arts and the elimination of the distinction between “pure” art
and “decorative” art.
Similar ornamental values and opportunities for
use, together with the legibility of the whole, probably
encouraged the practice of integrating heterogeneous
pieces to form a new whole, as would seem demonstrated
by recent scientific research on and traditional stylistic
analysis of the Spitzer windows 28. His microstoria is revealed
as paradigmatic of a cultural stage marked by an interwoven
international network of art dealers, collectors, connoisseurs,
museum curators, art critics and craftsmen not infrequently
acting within the antiques market with fraudulent intent
(namely deliberately introducing negligible replicas or
mariages validated as old, valuable masterpieces).
Such an approach was made possible by the extraordinary
manual, imitative and mimetic abilities of the experienced
craftsmen and those practicing the industrial arts to
eliminate every stylistic dissonance in a whole that was to
be harmoniously contextualized. This aspect interweaves
closely with the question of the serial production of objects
for which the past constituted an inevitable model and
fundamental presupposition for the successive developments
of ex novo glass production.
For all intents and purposes, the Musée Spitzer and its
collections — promoted within a dramatic, overarching and
unified project — can be considered a model of 19th century
collecting focused on constructing a home exemplary for
its unity of style and the stylistic consonance among the
structure, the furnishings and the artistic collections. This
kind of model, progressively abandoned in the subsequent
lifestyle culture (at least among the most illuminated
personalities in Europe), was eventually reflected in the
following century in the creation of museum exhibits (or,
Epochemuseum) and in the homes of the yankee millionaires
on the other side of the Atlantic.
«The principal stained glass gallery in 1851
[...] may have been a ‘discrete display’ [...]
but it grabbed the attention of reviewers and
artists alike, and set a precedent for future
displays of the medium at later International
Exhibitions, museums and art galleries across
the world» (Allen 2012, 4).
25
26
On this, see Cordera 2014, 55‑71.
27
«Les vitraux forment toujours dans les
musées une série encombrante. On ne sait
où les mettre; dans les salles contenant des
objets d’art, ils suppriment la lumière et
parsèment les oeuvres qui les avoisinent de
pailletes lumineuses qui sont parfois d’un
effect pittoresque, mais font la terreur des
gens d’études [...] Leur placement est donc
un véritable problème et c’est pour cela
que beaucoup d’amateurs ont renoncé à
les collectionner autrement que comme les
accessoires d’un ameublement d’un style
plus ou moins somptueux [...] M. Spitzer dans
l’incomparable musée réuni rue de Villejust
avait su tourner la difficulté: les fenêtres du
hall qui lui servait de cabinet de travail avaient
été pourvues de beaux vitraux du XVIe siècle
[...] La salle d’armes reçut une ornementation
plus sevère [...] C’est donc une série très
restreinte de vitraux que nous avonc ici à
étudier. Mais cette série, par l’importance des
pièces qui y figurent, nous à paru néanmoins
de nature à motiver une notice particulière
destinée à assigner à ces monuments leur
place dans l’histoire d’un art qui a jeté au
moyen âge, en France et en Allemagne, un si
grand éclat» (Molinier 1893, 113‑114).
Fragments of these stained glass window
are preserved, today, in the Detroit Museum
of Art, the Ochre Court and Seaview Terrace
in Newport (Rhode Island), the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York, the Schnütgen
Museum in Cologne and at the Glasgow
Museums. On this subject, see “Boppard
Conservation Project”. Accessed April 27,
2014. http://boppardconservationproject.
wordpress.com/about/.
28
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who
gathers?
COLLECTING
AMERICAN GLASS
Louis Comfort Tiffany
and the Gilder Circle in
19th‑century New York
abstract
resumo
Louis Comfort Tiffany’s collaborative “American glass movement”
was one of nationalism and promotion from both the artist’s and
the collector’s perspectives in a country newly unified and finding
its footing in a world of industrialization. The partnerships that
Tiffany formed with fellow artists and collectors were largely born
out of his association with the Richard Watson Gilder Circle, a
group of creative individuals working in and concerned with the
arts. The experimentation undertaken by Gilder Circle members,
including architect Stanford White, painter and glass artist John
La Farge, and painter Cecilia Beaux, in accordance with Tiffany’s
technological and creative advancements in the medium of
glass and avid collectors such as Henry and Louisine Havemeyer,
altered the American artistic landscape and fostered new avenues
for social and professional connections at the end of the 19th
century.
O “movimento [colaborativo] de vidro americano” de Louis
Comfort Tiffany foi um dos movimentos de nacionalismo e
promoção, tanto da perspetiva do artista como do colecionador,
num país recém-unificado e que tentava marcar a sua posição
num mundo industrializado. As parcerias que Tiffany formou com
outros artistas e colecionadores foram grandemente derivadas
da sua associação com o Círculo de Richard Watson Gilder, um
grupo de indivíduos criativos que trabalhavam e se dedicavam às
artes. A experimentação levada a cabo por membros do Círculo
de Gilder, incluindo o arquiteto Stanford White, o pintor e artista
de vidro John La Farge, e a pintora Cecilia Beaux, conjuntamente
com os avanços tecnológicos e criativos de Tiffany, usando vidro
como o seu meio artístico, e com os ávidos colecionadores, como
Henry e Louisine Havemeyer, alteraram a paisagem artística
americana e promoveram novos caminhos para conexões sociais
e profissionais, no final do século XIX.
Keywords
stained glass | America | Louis Comfort Tiffany | Gilded
Age | collectors
Palavras-Chave
Vitral | América | Louis Comfort Tiffany | Época de
Ouro | Colecionadores
Jayme Yahr, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Plymouth State University,
New Hampshire, USA
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Louis Comfort Tiffany
ouis Comfort Tiffany’s career was defined in terms of the
people he “collected.” Tiffany (1848‑1933), who began
his artistic life as a painter and found success as a glass
and luxury goods designer, employed his colleagues and
collaborated with his supporters, both physically in terms
of his design and glass projects, and mentally, in terms of
their moral and artistic support. As an artist/designer he
knew that whatever was produced in his studios was a group
effort; yet, because each window, lamp, or piece of jewelry
would bear his name, the design and execution of the work
would have to meet the Tiffany standard of innovation.
L
Tiffany saw only one means of effecting this perfect
union between the various branches of industry: the
establishment of a large factory, a vast central workshop
that would consolidate under one roof an army of
craftsmen representing every relevant technique:
glassmakers and stone setters, silversmiths, embroiderers
and weavers, casemakers and carvers, gilders, jewelers,
cabinetmakers—all working to give shape to the carefully
planned concepts of a group of directing artists,
themselves united by a common current of ideas (Bing
1970, 146).
Producing stained glass and jewelry designs through
his companies Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company and
Tiffany Studios, the artist catered to wealthy Americans
who were interested in collecting the best objects available.
These projects ranged in size and scale from a single
stained glass window to an entire interior design. Many
of Tiffany’s clients were business entrepreneurs, artists,
writers, and socialites who, through their commissions,
helped to make the Tiffany name synonymous with luxury
glass. The artist’s major projects included the stenciled
and glass accoutrements for writer Mark Twain’s Victorian
house in Hartford, Connecticut; the interiors of John Taylor
Johnston’s home in New York City, who was best known as
the founding president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art;
the renovation of numerous White House room interiors for
President Chester Alan Arthur; as well as the glass collection
of Henry Osborne Havemeyer and Louisine Havemeyer, and
the stained glass windows of the William C. Skinner House in
New York City. [Fig. 1]
In America, things happen differently. The same democracy
that serves as a basis for the entire social structure of the
country has to the same extent penetrated the world of
art. Neither accident of birth nor choice of one career over
another confers any aristocracy. No caste system could
long endure in an environment where all roads can lead to
honor and fame. When an American artist holds an honored
place in public esteem, it is in no way due to his choice
of painting or sculpture; but rather because he has given
shape to a new concept of Beauty—and any tool may have
been used, with equal brilliance, to serve this distinguished
cause—it makes no difference whether it is called brush,
chisel, or something else (Bing 1970, 125).
Tiffany’s network of colleagues rose out of his association
with Richard Watson Gilder, editor of The Century Illustrated
Monthly Magazine, a popular periodical that catered to
RHA 03 109 DOSSIER COLLECTING AMERICAN GLASS...
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America’s middle and upper classes. The magazine, a
leader in publishing artwork and literature by Americans,
was the first to give bylines to all contributors, including
etchers, engravers, and illustrators, and was at the forefront
of printing press technology. Gilder’s leadership of the
magazine was unparalleled in the latter decades of the
19th century, his promotion of the arts tireless, and his vast
array of social connections were largely unparalleled in New
York City.
It was from Gilder’s artistic salon that Tiffany’s
connections grew. The artists that Tiffany met at Gilder’s
Friday night gatherings were challenging conventional
notions of design and artistic styles to create an American
movement, promoting members to potential clients, and
often purchasing each other’s works. Such Gilder Circle
members as sculptor Augustus Saint‑Gaudens, architect
Stanford White, painter Cecilia Beaux, glass designer and
painter John La Farge, and writer Mark Twain were part of
Tiffany’s collected network. Cecilia Beaux served as artistic
director of Tiffany Studios, lending her keen eye for painterly
detail to the designer’s glass projects. Likewise, Augustus
Saint‑Gaudens was a friend and promoter, while also working
closely with John La Farge on numerous glass projects.
However, the social gatherings were not reserved exclusively
for visual artists; instead, the informal Gilder Circle meetings
were attended by writers, actors, musicians, politicians,
and a myriad of other artists working in diverse media,
each a potential collaborator, friend, or promoter of Tiffany
(Yahr 2009).
Tiffany’s innovations
Louis Comfort Tiffany’s collaborative American glass
movement was one of self‑promotion in a country newly
unified following the end of the Civil War in 1865. The
Reconstruction period that followed the end of America’s
years of defense mentality, was a time of growing
industrialization, of a country seeking to reestablish a sense
of stability and a progressive vision for the future.
Stained glass was not a new artistic medium in the late
th
19 century. Glass had been used to provide decoration and
Fig. 1 Dining Room, Mark Twain House,
351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, Hartford
County, CT. Library of Congress, Prints
& Photographs Division, HABS CONN,
2-HARF, 16--6.
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to display important visual narratives within churches and
cathedrals throughout Europe from the Medieval period
through the Renaissance and beyond. Most of the imagery
found within these earlier periods of stained glass history
was comprised of brown or black paintings drawn directly
on pieces of glass. The painted glass pieces were then fired
in order to literally burn the painted images onto the glass,
which were subsequently assembled with lead rods to hold
the entire piece together (Pepall 1981, 50). In order for the
stained glass to be held in place, often high up along the
side of a building, each work of glass was attached to the
wall with iron bars. The extent to which a piece or window
of glass was painted was largely determined by the artist
and the client; a visual characteristic of the stained glass
medium that changed drastically over the course of time in
accordance with changes of taste. As Tiffany’s contemporary
and critic Cecilia Waern opined on the topic of the artist’s
glass projects in the magazine The Studio in 1897, he
“conforms to the wishes of the customers and [the artist’s
studio] adapts itself to any problem presented as adroitly as
a clever milliner” (Waern 1897, 157). She goes on to note that
“It is eclectic, of course, this Tiffany style” a declaration that
summarizes Tiffany’s incorporation of stained glass traditions
into his own experimental method of working (Waern
1897, 157).
Tiffany, having seen and studied the various ecclesiastical
windows of the great cathedrals of Europe during his
travels in the later 1860s and early 1870s, was in search of
new ways of creating visual effects in the medium of glass
(Frelinghuysen 2006, 4). His goal was to produce imagery,
including landscape scenes, architectural elements, figures,
flora and fauna by exploiting the versatility of glass as a
material, rather than relying on the painting of glass to
produce the desired motifs. Seemingly simple, this was
Tiffany’s revolutionary innovation within the world of artistic
glass production.
Many of Tiffany’s early glass commissions were
ecclesiastical, including the stained glass windows for the
interiors of Madison Square Church, a project completed in
collaboration with Gilder Circle member Stanford White, a
window for St. Michael’s Protestant Episcopal Church, and
the chapel interior of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the
Divine, all three of which were originally in New York City.
The chapel interior of the Cathedral Church was displayed at
the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois,
which was subsequently purchased by Mrs. Celia Whipple
Wallace of Chicago before returning to the artist’s holdings
in 1916. Tiffany also completed stained glass windows for
the First Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the
First Church of Christ in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and Saint
Peter’s Chapel on Mare Island in California, among numerous
others. These ecclesiastical commissions allowed the artist
to build his reputation and transformed each church into
a destination location, sites to be seen by a wide range of
audiences. Large‑scale stained glass windows were not
common to early American churches, nor were they common
to patrons who had not traveled extensively outside of the
country. Tiffany provided a groundbreaking adventure, a
literal translucent and transcendent sight that few Americans
had ever seen before. [Fig. 2]
Apart from Tiffany’s work in the medium, John La Farge
had been experimenting with glass in the 1870s and was the
111 DOSSIER COLLECTING AMERICAN GLASS...
Fig. 2 Louis Comfort Tiffany, Saint Peter’s
Chapel, Mare Island, California. The Jon B.
Lovelace Collection of California Photographs
in Carol M. Highsmith’s America Project, Library
of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
first to press thin layers of different colored glass together,
fusing the layers with heat, to produce what became known
as opalescent glass (Pepall 1981, 52). Much like an opal, a
gemstone that looks milky, opalescent glass is marbled and
semitransparent in its finished look. A member of Gilder’s
Circle, La Farge frequented the Friday night gatherings that
were held at the Gilder home, where he would often meet
Tiffany, each sharing his experiments, but also knowing that
they would compete against each other for commissions
(La Farge 1893, 9‑10).
Although Tiffany was not the first to produce opalescent
glass for artistic use, he surpassed La Farge in the creation of
shading techniques using opalescent glass, the incorporation
of stones, gems, and objects into the glass panels to provide
texture and dimension, as well as the process of assembling
glass pieces using lead lines to define a scene (“American
Progress” 1881, 485). Tiffany essentially eliminated the need
to paint directly onto glass by utilizing the medium to its
fullest potential. Moreover, the artist’s meticulous process
of choosing just the right shade or the best‑suited piece
of glass for a textured visual effect set Tiffany apart from
his colleagues. He was known for keeping glass sheets
organized according to a code, with upwards of two tons of
glass in five thousand colors and hues stored in his studio at
any given time (Waern 1898, 16). Often complicated shapes
and pieces of varying thickness were used by Tiffany to form
scenes consisting of landscapes that resemble paintings or
figures that look as if they will step out of the glass window,
full of life and personality. There were no attempts by Tiffany
to hide the leading; rather, it was a vital part of his glass
creation process, forming the outlines of all major scene
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112 DOSSIER COLLECTING AMERICAN GLASS...
Fig. 3 Louis Comfort Tiffany, designer
and Fredolin Kreischmann, engraver,
Tall Vase with Lily Pads and Wild
Carrots, 1895-1898, The Walters Art
Museum, acquired by Henry Walters,
www.thewalters.org. Creative
Commons License.
components. “In its [Tiffany glass’] rejection of all forms
of the past it took an essential step toward the future and
opened the way for a recognition of the new conditions
prevailing in an industrial society” (Schaefer 1962, 328).
In order to successfully produce his glass projects, from
large‑scale windows to luxury goods including lamps, Tiffany
was in need of glass suppliers, designers, and artists to help
him fulfill his commissions. [Fig. 3]
Collected partners: glass works
The American glass movement was not only largely indebted
to the artists who brought creative and imaginative scenes
to life, but also to the glass companies that physically
produced the colorful sheets of glass, in high volume, that
artists needed to complete their creative works. The first
of Tiffany’s partners was Thill’s Empire State Flint Glass
Works in Brooklyn, New York, where the artist worked
from 1875 to 1877 developing drapery glass in which hot
glass is molded and manipulated to look like drapery folds
(“The Secrets of Tiffany Glassmaking”). Following his work
at Thill’s, Tiffany established a glasshouse in Venice, Italy,
which was a short‑lived endeavor, as it burned in an 1878 fire
(Veith 2006, 226).
As the 1870s came to a close, Tiffany established an
essential and productive partnership with the Heidt Glass
House in Brooklyn, New York. La Farge and Tiffany both
experimented with the creation of opalescent glass around
1880 at the Heidt furnace (Veith 2006, 226). In March of
1881, Tiffany and Louis Heidt, the owner of Heidt Glass House
signed an exclusive agreement in which Heidt agreed to
produce glass for Louis C. Tiffany and Company alone, with
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Tiffany being the only customer privy to the experiments
and process-based information held at the Heidt Glass House
(Tiffany and Heidt 1881). According to the agreement,
Whereas Louis Heidt desires to manufacture glass for
decorative purposes for the firm of Louis C. Tiffany
& Company, and has proposed to said firm to manufacture
said glass exclusively for them and not for any other
persons engaged in the same business, they on their part to
communicate to him certain processes in the manufacture
of glass known to them and to make experiments through
him looking toward the discovery of new processes (Tiffany
and Heidt 1881).
In return for this exclusivity, Tiffany agreed to purchase
at least two‑hundred dollars worth of glass every month
from Heidt, the length of the agreement being upwards
of ten years (Tiffany and Heidt 1881). The agreement
was, for Tiffany, a way to cut off his competitors without
addressing them directly. La Farge had secured a patent
on the “Colored‑Glass Window” in February of 1880 for the
creation of opalescent glass sheets at the same time that
both artists were working out of the Heidt furnace. One year
later, in February of 1881, Tiffany secured his own patent
for the “Colored‑Glass Window,” the difference between
the two being that Tiffany’s patent covered the assembly
process. He also received additional patents in 1881, one
for “a new background surface for opalescent glass tiles to
add brilliance and iridescence,” and another for “a process
of improving the metallic luster as it is being given to one
surface of a window or mosaic” (Veith 2006, 226). Within
one month of receiving his official patents Tiffany signed the
exclusivity agreement with Louis Heidt, hence preempting
La Farge’s use of the Heidt Glass House to create or further
experiment with opalescent glass.
Tiffany’s relationship with Heidt lasted until 1883 when the
artist decided to diversify his interests in glass producers.
Tiffany found the partner he was looking for in Kokomo
Opalescent Glass of Kokomo, Indiana. In the early 1880s,
America saw a natural gas boom and news traveled
quickly of the availability of the fossil fuel in rural locations.
Numerous industrialists and entrepreneurs attempted
to capitalize on the availability of the fuel source, filing
claims for land and establishing companies to sell natural
gas. One such entrepreneur was Charles Edward Henry, a
French‑born glass chemist who had been running his own
art glass company in New Rochelle, New York when he
heard about the natural gas discovery in Kokomo. Henry
turned his efforts away from producing glass novelties, left
New Rochelle, where it is likely that he first met Tiffany, and
moved to Kokomo where he established the Opalescent
Glass Works in the fall of 1888. The company was particularly
important for Tiffany’s glass production, as Kokomo
produced large glass sheets in vibrant colors, the exact
type of glass that the artist needed to complete his interior
designs. One of the first shipments from Henry’s newly
established glass works was to Tiffany (Indiana Historical
Society, “Kokomo Opalescent Glass Company, Inc.”). In
November of 1888, the artist received six hundred pounds of
blue and white opalescent glass (Doros 2013, 29).
Even after Henry’s death in 1892 and a change in
ownership, the glass works sent Tiffany mottled, opalescent,
rippled, and marbleized sheets for use in his glass designs.
In 1893 alone, Tiffany was one of the company’s best clients,
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purchasing more than 10,000 pounds of glass in various
colors and types (Indiana Historical Society, “Kokomo
Opalescent Glass Company, Inc.”).
While Tiffany was working with Kokomo, he set out to
build a relationship with a glass works closer to his studio
in New York City. He founded the Corona furnace between
late 1892 and early 1893 to produce the various types of
glass necessary to complete his projects, in particular Favrile
glass, which Tiffany had begun utilizing in his luxury goods
designs in the 1890s. He obtained a patent on Favrile in 1894,
which consists of an iridescent sheen, and was typically used
by Tiffany to create luminous vases (University of Michigan
Museum of Art). The furnace’s location in Queens provided
an easy distance for any large or small pieces of glass to
travel, a major issue with relying solely on the Indiana‑based
Kokomo Opalescent Glass, as any cracks or breaks that
occurred while the glass was in transit resulted in a loss of
inventory for the artist.
Arthur J. Nash, the superintendent of the Corona furnace
was an important figure in Tiffany’s collected network. The
artist relied heavily on his oversight of the furnace, including
daily operations and high‑quality output. After a short time
in operation, the furnace was renamed the Stourbridge Glass
Company (Nash hailed from Stourbridge, England), an effort
to separate the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company name
from the functionality and existence of the glass producer.
In October of 1893, a fire, for the second time in Tiffany’s
career, damaged the furnace upon which he was relying for
large quantities of glass. The furnace, uninsured and facing
upwards of twenty‑thousand dollars in damages, had to
be rebuilt, which was accomplished with the help of a loan
from Tiffany’s father, Charles Lewis Tiffany, the man behind
the successful Tiffany & Co. luxury goods stores (Veith
2006, 227). Once the furnace was rebuilt and reestablished
in the production of glass, a foundry and metal shop were
added to increase the capabilities of Stourbridge to produce
leading, as well as various parts for small‑scale goods.
These additions were followed by a second change of name,
to Tiffany Furnaces in 1902. Tiffany Furnaces remained in
operation until 1924 when Tiffany removed his name from
the glassworks and turned the business over to A. Douglas
Nash. Yet, even with the change in ownership, Tiffany
protected his artistic process, output, and collected network,
remaining an interested party until the company’s closure in
1930 (Veith 2006, 227‑231).
Havemeyers
At the end of the 19th century, industrialists had grabbed a
hold of the available resources and established companies
that altered the economic landscape of America through
steel, railroads, banking, shipping, oil, and even, in the case
of Henry Osborne Havemeyer, sugar. The Havemeyer sugar
empire was built on America’s capitalism and Henry was an
unforgiving captain of industry, so much so that his Sugar
Trust was deemed a “conscienceless octopus reaching from
coast to coast” (Kimmelman 1993).
Henry and Louisine Havemeyer were avid collectors of
art, amassing a robust array of paintings, sculptures, and
objects inspired by their travels and their own network of
artists and art dealers. The couple was directly linked to
Richard Watson Gilder through the Society of Art Collectors,
a New York City‑based committee of men and women
that counted Gilder and the Havemeyers as members,
dedicated to stimulating “the appreciation of American Art
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at its true value” (Society of Art Collectors 1904). In Gilded
Age America, the prevailing notion was that a collection of
European artwork would legitimatize social status, wealth, and
education. Collecting American works was considered to be
a risky endeavor, as the country was establishing an artistic
identity based on a unique dichotomy, tied to longstanding
European traditions of art academies and ateliers, yet based
in “experimentation, intense scrutiny of aesthetic ideals, and
proliferation of new styles in the world of art” (Frelinghuysen
1999, 4). The Havemeyers’ support of their contemporaries
through art collecting, and their focus on Tiffany glass in
particular, was unprecedented in post‑Civil War America.
Additionally, the Havemeyers employed numerous artists
of the Gilder Circle, including Tiffany, to create interior
designs for their New York City home at 5th Avenue and East
66th Street. Architect Charles Haight built the impressive
structure and Tiffany, along with collaborator Samuel
Colman, who was also an art advisor to the couple, created
the interior environments, with each room being inspired
by a different foreign location or motif. The Havemeyers’
drawing room was a spectacle of Gilded Age decoration, a
combination of Moorish design, the textures and patterns of
Byzantium, and the striking simplicity of Japanese artwork
(Feld 1962, 103).
Completed in 1891, the drawing room vibrantly displayed
Tiffany’s mixture of interests. The highlight of the room was
a fire screen comprised of an abstract, colorful design of
rectangles, circular patterns, and a combination of vertical
glass rods in alternating columns of purple and white,
reminiscent of bamboo stalks. Upon the vertical rods are
circular forms that give the scene the look of dew on a
windowpane. The colors, patterns, and textures found within
the fire screen are reminiscent of North African textiles and
Native American weavings.
The Havemeyer house also included numerous windows
designed by Tiffany, one in rich amber, white, and blue
interlocking geometric patterns, and a second arabesque‑like
window yellow and amber in color. Included in the house
was a chandelier with opalescent bits of glass and another
with rounded domes of yellow glass in various sizes, an
air return grill, unique lighting fixtures, a mosaic frieze,
and an elaborate S‑patterned gilt balustrade complete
with opalescent glass pieces, all which show the diversity
of Tiffany’s glass work. One of the most elaborate of
Tiffany’s designs for the Havemeyer residence is a
mosaic that greeted visitors in the house’s entrance hall,
a two‑dimensional tête‑à‑tête between full‑feathered
male peacocks that comes to life through interspersed
three‑dimensional pieces of glass (Bullen 2005, 390‑398).
The Havemeyers were trendsetters in their embrace of
eclectic furnishings while understanding and supporting
the artistic process unique to Tiffany and Colman. The
grandiosity of the Havemeyers’ home, furnishings, and
overall interior design was also a sign of wealth and status
within New York City society. Further, the Havemeyer home
was a repository for their vast art collection, which included
numerous Impressionist, Post‑Impressionist and Realist
paintings, drawings, sculptures, works by Old Masters, Asian
art, and decorative arts, including an abundance of Tiffany
Favrile objects.
The Favrile works were offered directly by the collectors
to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, itself a
symbol of America’s cultured class and a definer of taste, in
1896. In a letter from H. O. Havemeyer to Museum President
116 DOSSIER COLLECTING AMERICAN GLASS...
Fig. 4 Louis Comfort Tiffany,
Vase, 1893. Favrile glass. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift
of H. O. Havemeyer, 1896, www.
metmuseum.org. Open Access for
Scholarly Content.
Henry G. Marquand, Henry outlines the importance of the
glass objects as among Tiffany’s finest, highlighting the
personal relationship between artist and collector, explaining,
“Since the Tiffany Glass Co. have been making Favrile glass
Mr. Louis Tiffany has set aside the finest pieces of their
production, which I have acquired for what I consider to
be their artistic value. Their number now is such that I am
disposed to offer the collection, which is one of rare beauty,
to the Metropolitan Museum of Art” (Feld 1962, 101). The gift
of Favrile objects was also in keeping with the tenants of
the Society of Art Collectors, to encourage the appreciation
of American art and to support American artists through
the collection of their works. The Metropolitan was the
recipient of numerous Havemeyer collections, from fifty‑six
of Tiffany’s innovative Favrile works (Frelinghuysen 1993,
99) to a vast array of paintings, sculpture, and drawings that
continue to reside in the hallowed halls of one of the nation’s
largest museums, the fourth phase of which was designed
by Charles McKim, William Mead, and Gilder Circle member
Stanford White. [Fig. 4]
Staying power
It is not only the Metropolitan Museum of Art that houses a
vast collection of glass works by Louis Comfort Tiffany and
his patrons. The turn from the 19th century to the 20th century
brought with it a case of “Tiffany fever,” a feeling that in
order to be part of the America’s upper echelon one must
own a Tiffany creation (Lynes 1954, 172‑173). Together with
his glass works partners and his staff of artists, designers,
and craftspeople, Tiffany was able to produce his windows,
screens, lights, and various other goods in quantity. With
his collected network in place to aid in marketing via
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word‑of‑mouth, commissioning interior designs, and largely
supporting his studio output, Tiffany prospered. Today,
Tiffany glass has found its way into numerous museum
collections, including those that represent Gilded Age
America in both style and environment, two essential
elements within Tiffany’s own design philosophy. The
Driehaus Museum in Chicago, Illinois, the Charles Hosmer
Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida,
the Evergreen Museum and Library on the campus of
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and the
Lucknow Estate, known as the Castle in the Clouds, in
Moultonborough, New Hampshire, represent just a small
cross section of museums with Tiffany glass objects both
large and small. Each museum provides a 21st‑century
connection to Louis Comfort Tiffany’s collected network,
each a part of the artist’s vast reach and staying power.
Bibliography
“Agreement between Louis Comfort Tiffany and Louis Heidt”. March 1881. Held
by the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York. Accessed June 23,
2014. http://www.cmog.org/library/louis-c-tiffany-and-company-louis-heidtagreement-dated-march-1881
“American Progress in the Manufacture of Stained Glass”. 1881. Scribner’s
Monthly 21.3: 485‑ 486.
Bing, Samuel. 1970. Artistic America, Tiffany Glass, and Art Nouveau. Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press.
Bullen, J. B. 2005. “Louis Comfort Tiffany and Romano‑Byzantine Design”. The
Burlington Magazine 147.1227: 390‑398.
de Kay, Charles. 1914. The Art Work of Louis C. Tiffany. New York: Doubleday,
Page & Company.
Doros, Paul. 2013. The Art Glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany. New York: Vendome
Press.
Eidelberg, Martin. 2005. “S. Bing and L. C. Tiffany: Entrepreneurs
of Style”. Nineteenth‑ Century Art Worldwide 4.2. Accessed
June 23, 2014. http://www.19thc‑ artworldwide.org/
summer05/215‑s‑bing‑and‑lc‑tiffany‑entrepreneurs‑of‑style.
Feld, Stuart P. 1962. “Nature in Her Most Seductive Aspects”. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art Bulletin 21.3: 103.
Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney. 2006. Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall.
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney. 1999. Louis Comfort Tiffany at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney. 1993. “The Forgotten Legacy: The Havemeyers’
Collection of Decorative Arts”. In Splendid Legacy. The Havemeyer Collection,
edited by Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Gary Tinterow, et al., 99‑125. New
York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Indiana Historical Society. “Kokomo Opalescent Glass Company, Inc.”.
Accessed June 23, 2014. http://www.indianahistory.org/our‑services/
books‑publications/hbr/kokomo‑ glass.pdf/?searchterm=Louis%20C.%20
Tiffany.
Kimmelman, Michael. “Review/Art; Havemeyer Collection: Magic at the Met
Museum”. The New York Times, March 26, 1993.
Kokomo Opalescent Glass. “History”. Accessed June 23, 2014.
http://www.kog.com/history.html.
La Farge, John. 1893. “The American Art of Glass: To be read in connection with
Mr. Louis C. Tiffany’s paper in the July number of the ‘Forum’, 1893”. La Farge
Family Papers, Yale University, 9‑10.
Lynes, Russell. 1954. The Taste‑Makers. New York: Harper & Brothers.
McKean, Hugh F. 1980. The Lost Treasures of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Garden City,
NY: Doubleday & Co.
Pepall, Rosalind. 1981. “Stained Glass Windows in Montreal at the Turn of the
Century”. Bulletin of the Association for Preservation Technology, 13.3: 48‑55.
Schaefer, Herwin. 1962. “Tiffany’s Fame in Europe”. The Art Bulletin, 44.4:
309‑328.
—— Society of Art Collectors. 1904. “Comparative Exhibition of Native and
Foreign Art”. New York: The Galleries of the American Fine Arts Society.
—— “The Secrets of Tiffany Glassmaking.” The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum
of American Art. Accessed June 23, 2014. http://www.morsemuseum.org/
on‑exhibit/secrets‑of‑tiffany‑ glassmaking.
University of Michigan Museum of Art. Accessed June 23, 2014. http://www.
umma.umich.edu/.
Veith, Barbara. 2006. “Chronology.” In Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton
Hall: An Artist’s Country Estate, edited by Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen and
Elizabeth Hutchinson, 225‑ 233. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Waern, Cecilia. 1897. “The Industrial Arts of America; The Tiffany Glass and
Decorating Co.”. The Studio, XI: 156‑165.
Waern, Cecilia. 1898. “The Tiffany or ‘Favrile Glass’”. The Studio XIV: 16‑21.
Yahr, Jayme. 2009. “The Illustrated Press: Richard Watson Gilder and
the American Frontier”. U.S. Studies Online: The British Association for
American Studies Postgraduate Journal 14. http://www.baas.ac.uk/
issue‑14‑spring‑2009‑article‑4/.
where to
collect?
SALES, STATUS,
SHOPS AND SWAPS
AN OVERVIEW OF WAYS OF
COLLECTING GLASS IN THE
19 TH CENTURY WITH SOME
CASE STUDIES FROM PARIS
AND LONDON
abstract
ResUMo
This paper explores the networks for collecting glass in the
19th century. Its emphasis is on the collecting of historic Venetian
glass during the third quarter of the century, when collectors’
interest in such glass grew at an unprecedented rate. After
surveying the development of interest in Venetian glass during
the 1850s and 1860s, the paper considers the ways in which
several collectors, primarily in Paris and London, assembled their
collections. Two case studies are then discussed in more detail:
the formation of the collections of the English marine artist
Edward William Cooke (1811-1880) in London and Alfred-Émilien,
comte de Nieuwerkerke (1811-1892) in Paris. Cooke’s diary and
Nieuwerkerke’s receipted invoices provide rare evidence of the
ways in which they assembled their collections. More than forty
glasses from Cooke’s collection are now in the British Museum,
while Nieuwerkerke’s art collection, acquired from him en bloc by
Richard Wallace in 1871, is in the Wallace Collection.
Este artigo explora as redes de colecionismo de vidro, no
século xix. Enfatiza o colecionismo de vidro veneziano histórico
durante o terceiro quartel do mesmo século, quando o interesse
dos colecionadores cresceu a uma taxa sem precedentes.
Após o levantamento do desenvolvimento do interesse em
vidro veneziano durante os anos de 1850 e 1860, o documento
considera o modo como os colecionadores, principalmente em
Paris e Londres, reuniram suas coleções. Dois casos de estudo
são então discutidos em maior detalhe: a formação das coleções
do artista de marinha Inglês Edward William Cooke (1811-1880) em
Londres e de Alfred-Émilien, Conde de Nieuwerkerke (1811-1892),
em Paris. O diário de Cooke e as faturas pagas de Nieuwerkerke
fornecem provas raras das formas pelas quais são criadas
estas coleções. Mais de quarenta vidros da coleção de Cooke
estão agora no Museu Britânico, enquanto a coleção de arte de
Nieuwerkerke, adquirida em bloco por Richard Wallace em 1871,
se encontra na Wallace Collection.
Keywords
Collecting | Venetian Glass | 19th Century
Palavras-Chave
Colecionismo | Vidro Veneziano | século XIX
Suzanne Higgott
The Wallace Collection,
London, United Kingdom
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T
his paper explores the networks for collecting glass
in the 19th century. Its emphasis is on the collecting
of historic Venetian glass during the third quarter of the
century, 1 when collectors’ interest in such glass grew at an
unprecedented rate.
Venetian glass of the so‑called ‘Golden Age’, dating
approximately from the second half of the 15th to the first
half of the 17th century, were especially highly prized by
collectors. After this period, the market for and production
of Venetian luxury blown‑glass were adversely affected
by the fashion for a different aesthetic supplied by foreign
manufacturers, and production went into deep decline after
the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797.
The demand among collectors for Venetian‑style glass
of the ‘Golden Age’ evolved within the prevailing broader
context of interest in the medieval and Renaissance periods.
A significant initial stimulus for this was the volume of works
of art that entered the market or museums following the
upheavals of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.
In Britain, public exposure to historic Venetian glass began
to increase during the 1850s. Important landmarks included
the sale of Ralph Bernal’s art collection in London in 1855,
with more than 100 lots of Venetian glass; the exhibition of
the Soulages collection at Marlborough House in London
in 1856, with 90 examples, and the groundbreaking
Art Treasures of the United Kingdom exhibition, held
in Manchester in 1857. A lavish book, Art Treasures of
the United Kingdom from the Art Treasures Exhibition
Manchester, included an authoritative essay on ‘Vitreous
Art’ by Augustus Wollaston Franks in which Venetian glass
featured strongly.
In Venice, Paris and London, interest in both historic
Venetian glass and contemporary Venetian glass inspired by
it developed at a breathtaking rate during the 1860s.
The revival of interest in historic Venetian glass and the
revitalization of the city’s artistic blown‑glass industry at
this time owed much to developments in Venice. In the early
1860s, the abbot Vincenzo Zanetti helped establish a glass
museum and a school of design for glass‑makers on Murano,
in the hope of stimulating a revival of the industry there.
Students, inspired by the museum’s collection, often revived
and reinterpreted earlier techniques and styles.
In France and Britain, publications and exhibitions made
Venetian glass more accessible to an interested public.
In France in 1861, Vincenzo Lazari published an article on
‘Les Verreries de Murano’ in the Gazette des Beaux‑Arts and
Le Cabinet de l’Amateur included an article entitled ‘Histoire
de la Verre Vénitienne’.
In London in 1862, more than 60 historic examples were
displayed in the Special Loan Exhibition at the South
Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum),
while the display from Antonio Salviati’s Venetian company
at the International Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations
included glasses inspired by historic precedents.
Contemporary Venetian glass was also shown at the first
Esposizione Vetraria Muranese in Venice in 1864.
In Paris in 1865, the Musée rétrospectif exhibition included
almost 200 historic examples.
Writing in Britain that year, J.C. Robinson observed: ‘In our
own day … a new and different appreciation … has begun
to prevail. The ancient glass wares of Venice, neglected
and despised during the last hundred and fifty years, have
1 At this time, it was unusual for a distinction
to be made between Venetian glass and glass
made elsewhere in the Venetian style (façon
de Venise).
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become a favourite category with amateurs of art; they
have fallen into the domain of the collector, whilst artists
and manufacturers are also gradually becoming alive to
the admirable taste in design, and the extraordinary and
infinitely varied developments of technical skill manifested in
them.’ (Robinson 1865, 181)
In 1866 Zanetti published his Guida di Murano e delle
celebri sue fornaci vetrarie, drawing attention to the revival
of glass‑making on the island. Salviati had a resounding
success at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867 and was
able to move his London shop to larger premises in 1868.
This remarkable decade of achievement culminated in 1869
with the second Esposizione Vetraria Muranese to be held in
Venice.
This is the context within which the collecting of historic
Venetian glass is explored here.
The significance of Venetian glass within a collection
varied. It might be a component in a broader collection of
medieval and Renaissance works of art in the ‘Kunstkammer’
tradition, as was the case with Alfred‑Émilien, comte de
Nieuwerkerke, the Rothschilds and Alexandre Basilewsky in
Paris or Sir Richard Wallace in London and Baron Ferdinand
Rothschild at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire.
Alternatively, it might receive special emphasis within a less
diverse collection, such as those formed by Duke Alfred
of Saxe‑Coburg and Gotha at Veste Coburg, or his cousin,
Ferdinand II of Portugal. It might, though, be acquired in the
context of a more specialized collection, such as Felix Slade’s
in London.
By what routes did collectors acquire Venetian glass? This
varies from collector to collector and unfortunately it is rare
for much information about their methods and sources to
be known today. For example, we know little more about
the formation of the collection of Jules Soulages, an early
French collector of Renaissance works of art, than that it was
acquired in Italy in the 1830s, during visits made primarily for
that purpose. 2
There are, however, some notable exceptions, collectors
about whose methods of collecting more detailed
information is available.
The earlier 19th‑century Parisian collector
Alexandre‑Charles Sauvageot (1781‑1860) specialized in
collecting Renaissance objects such as glass, sculpture and
ceramics, which he began collecting from 1826/7. In 1856
he donated many works from his collection to the Louvre,
including Venetian and Bohemian glasses. Sauvageot
recorded his purchases in a notebook, also in the Louvre.
In this notebook, Sauvageot wrote brief descriptions of
the items, the prices paid, which might include the cost
of restoration, and sometimes named the source dealer
or sale. Occasionally, a glass described in the notebook
can be identified. 3 Having neither time nor patience to
search for objects, Sauvageot made a point of buying
from the best sales or directly from dealers with the best
reputations. He was buying before Renaissance works of
art became fashionable and prices increased significantly,
but nevertheless, as one of the dealers who sold to him
remarked, ‘Il nous achetait toujours plus cher qu’un autre,
parce qu’il voulait être le premier à voir les objets.’ (Sauzay
1861, x). Arthur Roberts’s painting, Intérieur du cabinet
de M. Sauvageot (1856), shows the collector in his dining
room shortly before the transfer of his collection to the
2 Robinson 1856, iii‑iv. The Soulages
collection is now in the Victoria and Albert
Museum, London.
For example, in 1834 Sauvageot recorded
the purchase and restoration price of one
glass that is unidentified (1359 bis verre
à long pied 2 anses uni forme évasée cassé
5f rest. 3f 8) and the cost of a glass that
has been identified as Louvre OA 1020
(1362 bis 1 verre forme coquille double,
avec goulot et 2 ailes en émail bleu 35).
Françoise Barbe kindly provided this
information.
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Louvre. The room is densely packed with a mass of diverse
objects, from the walls hung with Palissy‑style ceramics and
darkened by monumental furniture to the table laden with a
sumptuous assortment of Renaissance earthenwares, glasses
and mounted rock crystals. 4
The English collector Felix Slade (1790‑1868) was
described by Hugh Tait as ‘… the first great connoisseur and
collector of glass ...’. (Tait 1996, 70). Slade bought much
of his glass in London. He bequeathed around a thousand
glasses to the British Museum, the majority Venetian,
together with nearly nine thousand prints and some other
items. 5 In the catalogue of Slade’s glass collection that was
in preparation at the time of his death (Franks 1871), there
is provenance information for a few pieces. The catalogue
records that Slade acquired glasses that had been in the
Debruge‑Duménil, Bernal, Soltykoff and Préaux collections,
all sold during the 1850s and 60s, as well as from the
d’Azeglio and Sandes collections. 6 He sometimes bid at
sales himself, such as at the Bernal sale in London in 1855
and at the Soltykoff sale in Paris in 1861. 7 Slade, who had
a close circle of collector friends and ‘… the reputation
of delighting in discussing his treasures with friends and
acquaintances as he showed them around the house …’
(Tait 1996, 75), recorded receiving some of his glasses as
gifts and bequests. 8
Ferdinand II of Portugal (1816‑1885) assembled a
wide‑ranging art collection, but the glassware, both vessel
and stained glass, was his overriding passion. Much of the
vessel glass, especially the Venetian and Germanic wares
of the 16th to 18th centuries, was housed in the Necessidades
Palace in Lisbon, in the dedicated Sala dos Vidros.
Ferdinand bought historic glass as early as the 1850s, but
his enthusiasm grew in the 1860s. Receipts record several
purchases made during his trip around Europe in 1863 and
in 1864 he ordered a series of objects, including 16 Venetian
glasses, in Dresden. The majority of his purchases may
have been made from antique dealers in Lisbon. 9 Surviving
receipts from Ferdinand’s European tour in 1863 include
one from Tito Gagliardi’s Florentine shop, dated 10 July, for
the purchase of maiolica and a large glass goblet, and one
written in Paris on 11 June, from the dealer A. Beurdeley
at the Pavillon de Hanovre, for maiolica and five Venetian
glasses, including ‘2 coupes sur piedouche à filets blanc’
from Louis Fould’s collection. 10 Both were prominent dealers.
Gagliardi had an outlet in Paris by 1867 and Beurdeley was
very active on the Parisian art market (see p. 127 below). 11 In
1855 the king was already planning the redecoration of the
Stag Room at the Pena Palace at Sintra to incorporate the
display of his glassware. A decorative scheme by Eugen Rühl
was not completed, but designs reveal that the glass would
have been shown alongside heraldry, armour and hunting
trophies.
Two contemporary collectors will now be considered
in detail as case studies: the English marine artist Edward
William Cooke (1811‑1880) and Alfred‑Émilien O’Hara, comte
de Nieuwerkerke (1811‑1892), as surintendant des Beaux‑Arts
the most powerful figure in Napoléon III’s Second Empire
art establishment. They shared a predilection for Venetian
and façon de Venise glass. Much information about the
formation of their collections is available as Cooke kept a
diary and Nieuwerkerke retained the receipted invoices for
his purchases.
Louvre, inv. M.I. 861.
4 Griffiths 1996, 116. Tait 1996, 75.
5 For example, cat. 361 (British Museum, inv.
S.361) was formerly in the Debruge‑Duménil
and Soltykoff collections and cat. 387 (British
Museum, S.387) in the Bernal collection.
6 Annotated copies of the sale catalogues in
the Wallace Collection Library record Slade
as buying Venetian glasses and two German
enamelled glasses at the Bernal sale (Lugt
22290, 5.3.‑30.4.1855, lots 2730‑2732, 2735,
2749, 2755, 2804, 2818, 2820, 2832, 2853,
2855) and Venetian glass at the Soltykoff sale
(Lugt 26136, 8 April ‑1 May 1861, lots 804, 808,
809, 813, 815, 817).
7 Franks 1871, cat. 904, was presented to
Slade by the collector John Henderson.
Franks 1871, cats 419 and 651, were
bequeathed to Slade by Sir Charles Rugge
Price and cat. 856 was bequeathed by G. S.
Nicholson. These last had been Slade’s early
mentors at a time when Venetian glass was
‘… but little cared for in England; …’ (Slade’s
‘Preface’ to Franks 1871).
8 Martinho and Vilarigues 2011, 8, 27.
9 The receipts are in the Arquivo Histórico da
Casa de Bragança at Vila Viçosa. Gagliardi’s
receipt is illustrated in Teixeira 1986, 240 (the
date given incorrectly) and Beurdeley’s in
Monge 2006, 135.
10
A receipt from Gagliardi to Nieuwerkerke
dated 29 June 1867 in the Wallace Collection
Archives, file AR2/28R/4, gives his address
as 22 rue de la Victoire, Paris. Another one is
dated 20 March 1866 in ‘Paris’ (loc. cit.). For
Gagliardi and Beurdeley see Westgarth 2009.
11
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Cooke in London and Nieuwerkerke in Paris were forming
their collections most actively in the mid‑1860s, when
interest in Venetian glass was at its height. They shared
characteristics and opportunities that enabled them to use
a range of strategies to extend their collections. Both mixed
in affluent cultured and artistic circles, giving them access to
important private collections and a kinship with likeminded
collectors, which might lead to exchanges, gifts or perhaps
early notification of proposed sales. Foreign travel afforded
them buying opportunities. Both bought at auction and
received speculative visits from dealers.
In London and Paris, auctions and dealers were important
sources for glass collectors. Dealers did not specialize in
glass, but sold a wide range of curiosités in their shops,
often acquiring their stock from auctions. A collector might
visit the shop or an enterprising dealer might call on a
potential customer. Surviving invoices and receipts show that
certain dealers, such as Beurdeley in Paris and Durlacher in
London, were firmly established on the collectors’ circuit for
purchases of glass and other items.
Edward Cooke provided an exceptional record of the ways
in which he acquired his glass collection in the diary that he
kept from the late 1820s until 1879. 12 Cooke was a gregarious
man with an insatiable intellectual curiosity and wide‑ranging
interests, reflected in his life‑long passion for collecting a
diverse range of objects. His two great enthusiasms, though,
were ferns and Venetian glass. His activity as a collector of
Venetian glass reached its apogee in 1864‑5. Cooke acquired
his glasses by diverse means: visiting curiosity shops and
dealers at home and abroad, during extensive travels in
pursuit of subjects for his paintings; at auction; as gifts and,
perhaps more unusually, through exchanges. As a result, he
encapsulates the varied means by which a collector might
augment his collection.
Cooke’s artist father probably sparked his interest in
‘curiosities’, and as a young man he was already fascinated
by collections. Cooke achieved early professional success
and was soon mixing in high society and attending
conversazione, gatherings of like‑minded people.
At meetings of the Fine Arts Club, which took place in
members’ homes, he had the opportunity to see selections
from other collections, as when on 23 July 1863 he went
‘… to Fine Arts Club meeting at Marchese D’Azelio’s. Met
many friends and saw superb collection …’. Cooke also
exhibited items from his own collection. A diary entry for
23 July 1867 indicates the scale of the displays at these
gatherings: ‘Chaffers came with two men and packed
72 pieces of old Venetian glass for the Fine Arts Club
meeting tomorrow …’.
The first reference to Cooke buying glass was when he
was in Baden Baden during his honeymoon (11 July 1840),
so the ‘… 2 Bohemia glass scent bottles …’ may have been
for his bride. In 1850, on his first visit to Venice, Cooke noted
on 7 October that he ‘Bought glass objects.’ However, the
first firm indication of Cooke’s interest in Venetian glass
is in his diary entry for 29 November 1858, when he was
passing through Paris on a journey home from Venice: ‘Went
to Roussels, bought bronze cup and Venetian glass &c …’.
By late February 1864, though, he was in thrall to collecting
glass, as his diary entry for the 24th illustrates: ‘Left 2 Ruby
vases at Falcke’s to be cleaned … called at Miers, Zimmerman
& Durlachers, bought 3 pieces of Venice glass.’ 13
Munday 1996 is the definitive biography of
Cooke. The transcripts of Cooke’s diary, made
by Munday from the originals then owned
by Cooke’s great‑grandson, Lt Col Conrad
Reginald Cooke, were kindly made available
to me by Martyn Gregory. For ease of
comprehension, abbreviations used by Cooke
have not been retained in this paper.
12
RHA 03 As Cooke’s enthusiasm intensified the dealers were quick
to respond. Between December 1863 and December 1864
Cooke recorded about 40 speculative visits from the dealers
Attenborough, Davis, Durlacher, Falcke, Jacobs, Myers,
Neill, Wareham, Waters, Webster, Whitehead, Wilson and
Wright, some of them among the principal London ‘curiosity’
dealers of the time. The quantity of Venetian glass that
Cooke bought in 1864 is remarkable. He often acquired
several pieces at a time, but it may be that his largest single
purchase occurred on 29 June 1864, when ‘Mr and Mrs
Falcke came at 9 and brought a van with the glass case and
111 pieces of old Venetian glass — they unpacked and set it
up by 3 o’clock.’
Sometimes Cooke paid in cash, as on 3 December 1864
when, ‘Falcke’s men brought 2 Ruby cups which I bought 15/.
…’. More usually, though, he made exchanges. The following
examples are typical: 20 February 1864, ‘… Mr Falcke came
and exchanged several pieces of Venetian glass for a
Drawing of Dieppe and a small old picture …’; 11 May 1864
[fig. 1], ‘… — Durlacher came and brought 5 new Venetian
glass specimens and a majolica Dish — he took away in
exchange for them and the glass case a picture of Capo di
Sorento.’
Cooke’s interest in glass soon led to an acquaintance with
Felix Slade. On 9 January 1864 Cooke recorded, ‘Mr Blore
drove over and took me to Mr Felix Slade’s … Saw the truly
superb collection of Venetian Glass and Roman and Greek
Glass and some of his fine Etchings. Took luncheon there
and walked back with Mr Blore.’ On 21 April 1864, ‘… Mr Felix
Slade called and saw glass. He drove me to Christie’s saw
China and pictures of Mr Herbert’s …’. A couple of months
124 DOSSIER SALES, STATUS, SHOPS AND SWAPS...
later (6 June 1864) Cooke ‘Went with C. Landseer to Mr
Slade’s, looked at his glass and antiques. Lunched and left
at 3.’ Shortly before his death, Slade gave Cooke a gift,
the latter noting on 10 February 1868, ‘Mr Slade sent me a
beautiful Venetian glass knife …’. Several years later, on 8
February 1875, Cooke was given another gift that probably
included glass: ‘Mr Willett gave me a curious Japanese vase,
a large Venetian Tazza and a v. vase, also Holly cuttings
…’. It seems likely that ‘Mr Willett’ was the Dutch collector
Fig. 1 Edward William Cooke’s diary entry
for 11 May 1864. Photocopy of original diary
courtesy of Martyn Gregory, London
London dealers, presumably Isaac or
David Falcke, Abraham Myers, Godfrey or
Simon Zimmerman and Henry Durlacher. See
Westgarth 2009.
13
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Abraham Willet (1825‑1888), whose collection is in the
Willet‑Holthuysen Museum in Amsterdam.
Visiting curiosity shops was a highlight of Cooke’s
extensive foreign tours. 14 During several lengthy stays in
Venice he encountered people such as ‘Brown’ (probably
Rawdon Brown), Charles Eastlake, Austen Layard, the
Gambier Parrys and the Ruskins, with some of whom he
visited dealers. October 1864 was frenetic with visits to their
shops: purchases, including glass, were made from Richetti,
Biachi, Barbieri and Dina. 15 Cooke described the mechanics
of the transactions. For example, on 12 October he noted:
‘Out before breakfast went in gondola to Ricchettis —
bought 17 pieces of glass. Went to Blumenthals’ for cash.
In afternoon Ricchetti bought them home and I paid him.’
On 3 November, departure day, ‘Vincenzo (his gondolier)
got a large Bacchetta and we saw the four cases on board
the Atlas …’ and Cooke ‘… went to Rieti’s and bought 3 Naps
worth of 7 pieces of old glass. Packed them and took
them to the Agent and got Bill of landing …’. Even short
stops on the journey home provided irresistible shopping
opportunities. In Florence in November 1864 he made
several visits to Riblet’s, one of them on the 5th, when Cooke,
‘… went to 2 Antiquarians, the second Ribblet. Selected
about 9 or 12 pieces of old glass Venetian ….’. Soon after,
he was in Paris where, over the course of five days (15‑19
November 1864), he visited a number of dealers and bought
at least 8 glasses, three of them Venetian.
The rapidly increasing collection necessitated additional
display cases and on 17 December 1864, ‘Philpot brought me
the two brass glazed cabinets bought yesterday at Falcke’s
sale — in evening filled them with Ven. glass, Ivory, silver
and other objects …’. Soon more display space was required
and the scale of the glass collection is demonstrated by the
length of time it took to wash it. On 18 February 1865, ‘Men
finished cabinet, fixed shelves and cleaned up by 2 o’clock.
Mary all day washing the glass specimens … I filled in the
whole of the shelves with the largest specimens of Venetian
Glass … and put the rest into the 2 other cases.’ A few weeks
later, on 6 March, Cooke recorded the pleasure he took
from sharing his collection with a likeminded friend, the
leading contemporary Venetian glass‑making entrepreneur
Antonio Salviati: ‘Dr Salviati his Son and Daughter and Sig.
Gagliadotte came at 7 to dinner. Had great fun, shewed them
the Venetian Glass.’
Cooke was a regular attendee at Christie’s sales but
his purchases there in the spring of 1865 are especially
noteworthy. On 22 March he ‘Went to Christies’, attended
sale of Eastwood’s glass bought 30 lots of the best
specimens and brought them home safely.’ Another great
opportunity was provided by the sale, in April, of Earl
Cadogan’s collection — but Cooke nearly forgot to take
home a purchase, as his diary entry for 8 April records: ‘…
at luncheon paid Christies’ account and got an opal cup
forgotten yesterday …’. This was perhaps a rare Bohemian
glass attributed to the Buquoy glasshouse, Nové Hrady,
Gratzen, in the British Museum. 16
After 1865 the intensity of Cooke’s glass collecting
subsided, undoubtedly largely due to his leasing, at the
year’s end, land near Groombridge, in Sussex, where he was
able to indulge his love of horticulture and where he built
a house, Glen Andred, moving into it on 1 July 1868. After
taking the land lease, Cooke continued to buy glass and
14
For an outline of Cooke’s foreign travel
see Munday 1996, Appendix 4, ‘The Itinerary
1824‑1879’.
For Richetti and Guiseppe Dina see
Westgarth 2009.
15
Lot 994, bought by Cooke for £10‑10s,
British Museum reg. no. 1873,0329.38. See
Thornton, Meek and Gudenrath forthcoming
2015, notes 10, 25, 27 and Fig. 10, left.
16
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welcome visitors to see it. However, in preparation for his
move, on 7 May 1868 he deposited 512 glasses at the South
Kensington Museum. 17 He took part of the collection to Glen
Andred and continued to make occasional additions to it.
The majority of the glass deposited at South Kensington
remained there until shortly before the posthumous sale of
Cooke’s glass collection at Christie’s on 15 and 16 June 1880.
The sale comprised 550 lots of Venetian glass with 60 lots
of other glass. More than 40 glasses from Cooke’s collection
are now in the British Museum. 18
The comte de Nieuwerkerke’s glass collection was part
of a broader collection of over 800 examples of medieval
and Renaissance works of art and arms and armour, much
of which he acquired in Paris between 1865 and 1870.
Descriptions and depictions of Nieuwerkerke’s collection
evoke a rich and diverse assemblage of objects arranged in
a dense but carefully constructed display. 19 Following the fall
of the Second Empire, in 1871 Nieuwerkerke was obliged to
sell his collection to fund his emigration to Italy and Richard
Wallace acquired it from him en bloc. It is now part of the
Wallace Collection. Nieuwerkerke also provided Wallace with
over 300 receipts from more than 75 dealers and collectors,
itemizing over 800 purchases made between 1865 and 1870.
These are in the Wallace Collection Archives. Their survival
alongside the collection has enabled the formation of
Nieuwerkerke’s collection to be studied in depth and many of
the objects to be identified in the receipts.
As directeur général des musées nationaux from 1849
and, from 1863, surintendant des Beaux‑Arts, Nieuwerkerke
wielded great influence at the epicentre of the Second
Empire French art establishment. His status was enhanced
by his long‑lasting liaison with princesse Mathilde Bonaparte
(1820‑1904), cousin of Napoléon III.
The receipts show that Nieuwerkerke acquired more than
30 glasses from 14 suppliers between 1865 and 1868. While
the majority were Parisian dealers, some were collectors. The
glasses he bought were mostly Venetian or façon de Venise
but included a Bohemian humpen and two considerably
more expensive Islamic mosque lamps. Descriptions of the
glasses are often general, but identification is sometimes
possible. Most commonly, identification results from a
written description matching an extant glass. 20 However,
there are other means by which the dealers’ paperwork
has enabled the identification of objects. On his receipt
dated 19 January 1867 E. Lowengard drew the ‘deux verres
de Venise’ purchased by Nieuwerkerke [fig. 2], allowing
their likely identifications as a pilgrim flask and a vase
[fig. 3, on the left in fig. 2] in the Wallace Collection. 21
Nieuwerkerke sometimes bid at auction himself, as he did
at the Roux of Tours sale held in Paris from 17‑20 February
1868. 22 He received an auction room invoice (Bordereau
d’Adjudication) from the commissaire‑priseur for the
sale, Charles Pillet [fig. 4], 23 giving the lot numbers of
two glasses, which are described in the sale catalogue
in enough detail to enable their identification as two
beautiful goblets in the Wallace Collection. Nieuwerkerke
paid the very high price of 2,000 francs for one of them,
an exceptional 16th‑century French façon de Venise glass
enamelled with the Crucifixion [fig. 5]. The other, for
which he paid 490 francs, is a delicate and flamboyant
Venetian or façon de Venise glass, probably dating to
the mid‑17th century. 24 Pillet charged a 5% commission
17
Victoria and Albert Museum Archives, Art
Museum Loans index, Register C (archive
reference MA/31/3), pp. 115‑124, 400‑402,
405. This provides details of the items lent to
the South Kensington Museum by Cooke in
1868 and removed from the museum in April
1873 and May 1880.
Augustus Wollaston Franks bought a few
pieces from Cooke in March 1873, including
that mentioned in note 16, but the majority
was acquired at the Christie’s sale of Cooke’s
collection in 1880.
18
For accounts of Nieuwerkerke’s collection
and descriptions and depictions of its display,
see Gaynor 1985, Higgott 2011, 23‑7 and
Higgott and Wenley in de Teneuille and
Laporte 2000.
19
For example, the humpen is Wallace
Collection inv. C563, Higgott 2011, cat. 52.
20
The receipt is in the Wallace Collection
Archives, file AR2/28R/5. The glasses are
Wallace Collection invs C524 and C540
(Higgott 2011, cats 13 and 29 respectively).
21
Archives de Paris, file D48E3 59,
procès‑verbal, showing Nieuwerkerke as the
buyer, on 19 February 1868, of the glasses that
were lots 125 and 115, with their respective
article du procès‑verbal nos, 323 and 326.
22
Wallace Collection Archives, file
AR2/28R/6.
23
Wallace Collection C518 and C552 (Higgott
2011, cats 7 and 41) respectively.
24
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Fig. 2 Receipt from E. Lowengard to
Alfred‑Émilien, comte de Nieuwerkerke,
dated 19 January 1867. It is annotated in
pencil with Wallace Collection work of
art numbers. Wallace Collection Archives.
© The Wallace Collection, London
on the price of the two pieces, bringing the total cost to
2,614.50 francs.
The only dealer from whom Nieuwerkerke bought
glass each year from 1865 to 1868 was A. Beurdeley. On
16 September 1865, Beurdeley sold him a mosque lamp. 25
He was a good source of Venetian glass, selling several
to Nieuwerkerke between 1865 and 1867. Receipts record
Nieuwerkerke buying Venetian glasses from Beurdeley
in multiples and show that he sometimes paid somewhat
retrospectively: for example, a receipted invoice dated
23 October 1866 confirmed receipt of 1,000 francs for
‘des verres Venise’ acquired by Nieuwerkerke on 9 January. 26
Another dealer from whom Nieuwerkerke bought Venetian
glass in 1865 was Frédéric Spitzer, whose receipt dated
13 November 1865 was for ‘Plusieurs verres de venises’ and
a Limoges enamel for 3,000 francs as well as ‘3 verres de
venises’ with another item for 1,500 francs. 27
By comparison, Nieuwerkerke’s payment of a
considerably higher sum for a mosque lamp acquired
from H. Delange in 1866 indicates their relative scarcity.
He paid 3,150 francs, settling 2,150 francs on account on
26 December 1866 and the balance on 15 January 1867. 28
Demand for Islamic art increased substantially among
European collectors during the 1860‑70s, with mosque
lamps becoming the most highly prized artefacts, especially
among Parisian collectors. 29
Wallace Collection Archives, file
AR2/28R/1. Nieuwerkerke bought the mosque
lamp with a staff of office, a bag clasp and
a sword, for the cumulative total of 5,900
francs. The mosque lamp is Wallace Collection
inv. C512. See Higgott 2011, 44, n. 3).
25
Wallace Collection Archives, file
AR2/28R/1.
26
Wallace Collection Archives, file
AR2/28R/6.
27
Wallace Collection Archives, file
AR2/28R/3.
28
29
Higgott 2011, 42.
Fig. 3 Vase. Venice or façon de
Venise, late 16th-first half 17th century.
The Wallace Collection, inv. C540.
© The Wallace Collection, London
Fig. 4 Receipted Bordereau
d’Adjudication, dated 19 February
1868, for the comte de Nieuwerkerke’s
purchases from the Roux of Tours
sale. Wallace Collection Archives.
© The Wallace Collection, London
Fig. 5 Goblet. France (façon de Venise),
mid-16th century. The Wallace Collection,
inv. C518. © The Wallace Collection, London
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Dealers were keen to secure Nieuwerkerke’s patronage,
often taking potential purchases to his residence in the
Louvre. 30 This seems to have been the case for his purchase
of the mosque lamp from Delange, since the receipt is
written on Nieuwerkerke’s official writing paper, headed
‘Cabinet du Sénateur, surintendant des Beaux‑Arts, Louvre’.
Nieuwerkerke’s headed paper was also used when, on
17 March 1867, a fellow collector, baron Schwiter, sold
him two outstanding 16th‑century items, a Venetian‑style
diamond‑point engraved glass footed bowl and cover
and an Iznik dish, as well as a Venetian glass lamp for 150
francs. 31 The dealer Carrand fils was an early visitor in 1868.
On 4 January Nieuwerkerke’s official headed paper was used
to record his payment to Carrand of 1,200 francs for the
pilgrim flask enamelled with the arms of Christof Philipp von
Lichtenstein and Wilhelm von Rappoltstein of Alsace, made
in Venice c. 1523‑6 and now in the Wallace Collection. 32
This paper has discussed a range of methods through
which collectors acquired historic glass in the 19th century,
with particular emphasis on the collecting of Venetian glass
in the third quarter of the century. In addition to visiting
dealers’ shops and attending auctions at home, a collector’s
access to potential acquisitions could be significantly
enhanced through travel, social networks and status.
Acknowledgements
This paper would not have been possible without the help
so generously provided by Patrick Conner, Martyn and
Penelope Gregory and Sarah Taft at the Martyn Gregory
Gallery; Francesca Hillier, Bruno Martinho, Pieter van der
Merwe, Maria de Jesus Monge, Rachel Russell, James Sutton
and Dora Thornton.
References
de Teneuille, Marie‑Dominique and Sophie Laporte (eds.). 2000. Le comte de
Nieuwerkerke. Art et pouvoir sous Napoléon III (exh. cat., Musée national du
Château de Compiègne, Compiègne). Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux
Franks, A.W. (ed.). 1871. Catalogue of the collection of glass formed by Felix
Slade, Esq. F.S.A. and bequeathed by him to the British Museum. London:
printed by Wertheimer, Lea and Co. for private distribution
Gaynor, Suzanne. 1985. ‘Comte de Nieuwerkerke: A Prominent Official of the
Second Empire and his Collection’. Apollo, November, 372‑79
Griffiths, Antony. 1996. ‘Felix Slade (1790‑1868)’, in Griffiths, Antony (ed.),
Landmarks in Print Collecting: Connoisseurs and Donors at the British
Museum since 1753. London: British Museum Press and Parnassus Foundation
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Higgott, Suzanne. 2011. The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Glass and Limoges
Painted Enamels. London: The Trustees of the Wallace Collection
Martinho, Bruno A and Márcia Vilarigues. 2011. Glass and Stained Glass
Ferdinand II’s Passion. The Pena Palace collection. Sintra: Parques de Sintra
— Monte da Lua
Monge, Maria de Jesus. 2006. ‘A colecção de faiança italiana da Família Real’.
Callipole: Revista de Cultura, no. 14, 129‑38
Munday, John. 1996. Edward William Cooke 1811‑1880 R.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.L.S.,
F.Z.S., F.G.S.: a Man of his Time. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’
Club
Robinson, J.C. 1856. Catalogue of the Soulages Collection. London: Chapman
and Hall
Robinson, J.C. 1865. Catalogue of the Works of Art Forming the Collection
of Robert Napier, of West Shandon, Dumbartonshire, mainly compiled by
J. C. Robinson. London: privately printed
Sauzay, A. 1861. Catalogue du Musée Sauvageot. Paris: Charles De Mourgues
Frères
Tait, Hugh. 1996. ‘Felix Slade (1790‑1868)’. Glass Circle Journal, 8 [n.d. but
published 1996], 70‑87
Teixeira, José. 1986. D. Fernando II: Rei‑Artista Artista‑Rei (exh. cat., Vila
Viçosa). Lisbon: Fundação da Casa de Bragança
THORNTON, Dora, Andrew Meek and William Gudenrath, ‘Opal Glass in The
British Museum Attributed to the Buquoy Glasshouse’, Journal of Glass
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Westgarth, Mark. 2009. ‘A Biographical Dictionary of Nineteenth Century
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30
See Gaynor 1985, 374.
Wallace Collection Archives, file
AR2/28R/6. The bowl and cover are Wallace
Collection C529, the lamp probably C538
(Higgott 2011, cats 18 and 27 respectively), the
Iznik dish C199.
31
The receipt is in the Wallace Collection
Archives, file AR2/28R/2. The glass is Wallace
Collection C517 (Higgott 2011, cat. 6).
32
A collection
for education
The glass collection of
the musée du Conservatoire
des arts et métiers during
the 19 th Century
abstract
resumo
During the early 19th Century, the Conservatoire des arts et
métiers set up in 1794, worked to improve the national industries
through up-to-date collections and chairs of higher technical
education. This paper tells of the links between the various
professors of chemistry or ceramics and the collections they
developed. The acquisitions followed the pattern of the Universal
exhibitions and also reflect the personal links between the
manufacturers and the Conservatoire staff.
Durante início do século xix, o Conservatório das Artes e Ofícios,
criado em 1794, trabalhou para melhorar as indústrias nacionais
através de coleções actualizadas e cadeiras de ensino técnico
superior. Este artigo fala sobre as ligações entre os vários
professores de química ou cerâmica e as coleções que eles
desenvolveram. As aquisições seguiram o padrão das Exposições
Universais e refletem também as ligações pessoais entre os
fabricantes e os funcionários do Conservatório.
Keywords
Conservatoire des arts et métiers | Technical
education | Technical museum | Glass technology collection
Palavras-Chave
Conservatório das Artes e Ofícios | Educação técnicas | Museu
técnico | Colecção de tecnologia de vidro
Anne‑Laure Carré
Curator of the Materials collection
Musée des Arts et Métiers, CNAM, Paris,
France
[email protected]
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C
reated in 1794 during the revolutionary era by the
National Convention 1, the Conservatoire des arts et
métiers is the heir of a pedagogical project characteristic of
the 18th century ideas on education.
To teach by the mean of a collection of artefacts and
machinery, to spread innovative ideas through a public of
craftsmen, industrialists, and workers is the goal of this
revolutionary institution. No diplomas, but a strong emphasis
on demonstration and experiments as much as links with the
industrial world were its ambition during the first half of the
19th century.
As a bicentenary institution, much literature has been
published for the various anniversaries, and in 1994 a
prosopographical dictionary of the professors was issued 2.
However the history of the collections and their display
is still a “black hole” only recently investigated 3. Archives
are scarce and research is in the making therefore this
paper takes the opportunity to display some ideas on
the glass section, a minor but interesting part of the general
collection.
As material for this paper I have used biographical notes
on the different professors, inventories and catalogues of
the collection and archive materials from the Conservatoire
and the Manufacture de Sèvres. I will follow a simple
chronological canvas from 1819 till 1868.
First lessons, first collections ?
In the 1818 catalogue 4, published by Gérard‑Joseph Christian,
director of the Conservatoire from 1816 till 1831, glass is
nowhere mentioned. It is more a guide than a catalogue,
as it describes the various rooms, some open to the public
others private, and gives a few details on the artefacts.
There is little interest for chemistry, still economical lighting
and heating have a place, but the objects described are more
concerned with mechanics, agriculture or looms and textile
machinery. However we will see that some glass objects
were already in the collection, but did not bear an inventory
number 5.
In 1819, three chairs were established: industrial economy
(Jean‑Baptiste Say), mechanics applied to the arts
(Charles Dupin) and chemistry applied to the arts. This
latter was given to the chemist Nicolas Clément, known as
Clément‑Desormes 6 (1778‑1841).
Nicolas Clément held the chair from 1819 till his death in
1841. He had certainly been appointed for his scientific works
but also for his reputation as a manufacturer. His interests
and publications were on sulfuric acid, on carbon monoxide,
and on the nature of heat. He was well introduced in the
scientific societies of his time.
In 1822, he became general agent of the Compagnie de
Saint‑Gobain, the important plate glass manufacture, and
worked on the improvement of the soda manufacture at
the Chauny plant. He was also employed by another soda
company, in Lorraine in 1826.
There is no published version of his lessons but a
manuscript copy given to the Conservatoire’s library in
1844 7 gives us a few clues. The complete transcription
covers two years from October 6th 1824 till May 4th 1825
and from September 28th 1825 till April 14th 1826. A total of
forty‑five and forty‑seven lessons are divided roughly in two
parts. Of course, it reflects Clement’s interests in lighting
and heating, in steam engines, and, for the manufacturing
1 The National Convention was the first
French Assembly elected by universal male
suffrage. It succeeded to the Legislative
Assembly and founded the First Republic
after the insurrection of August 10th 1792. It
governed France from 1792 till October 26th
1795.
Fontanon and Grelon,1994. A third volume
is currently under preparation by the same
authors.
2 A good source on the history of the
collection is La Revue du Musée des arts
et métiers, published between 1992 and
2010 with a large number of articles on the
collections. See also Dufaux, 2014.
3 Catalogue, 1818.
4 It is the case of objects given after the 1801
Exposition nationale des produits industriels,
in particular glasses from the Montcenis
Manufacture (Le Creusot). They bear the
inventory number 5916 and were only
catalogued in 1853. See Caude, 2009, 128.
See also Archives du Musée, 12°141: list of
items requested by Molard, director of the
Conservatoire from the Exhibition held in the
Louvre galleries.
5 Thépot, « Nicolas Clément Désormes », I,
337‑339.
6 Chimie, 4 volumes.
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part, lessons are mostly spent on metallurgy, soda, and
acids, but also on sugar, brewing, and distillation. Only
two lessons are devoted to glass manufacturing. Baudot’s
journal gives us a real glimpse of the content, with in
forefront of each lesson, the report that a list of figures were
written on a placard in front of the assembly. The general
tone is not that of a scientific lesson, but more a general
presentation of facts and figures about the economy of
this industrial branch. Details of glass components are
given of course but Clément‑Désormes insists much more
on the economical side (especially the cost of qualified
labour) rather than on technological processes. Some
comparisons are made with England and Scotland, where
Clément‑Désormes travelled — the author of the journal
recalls that he was accused of anglophilia. There is no clue
of any objects or collections being shown (whereas in other
parts it is noted for example that the Professor had samples
of paper circulating in the assembly to demonstrate the
use of chore as whitening agent). Ingeneral these lessons
are more a plea for discarding old habits and traditions
in favor of new machinery and of a positive attitude
towards innovation.
Early interests in glassmaking : Eugène Péligot
After the death of Clément‑Désormes, Eugène Péligot 8
(1811‑1890), who became his assistant the preceding year,
is elected to the chair. He will have a long career at the
Conservatoire from 1841 till 1889. He also teaches at the
Ecole Centrale from as early as 1835 and will also be head
of the assay laboratory at the Mint, a very discreet but
important function.
Péligot is one of the many students of Jean‑Baptiste
Dumas (1800‑1884), a prominent chemist and a powerful
member of the scientific cream of his period. 9 As well as
simply trusting all the highest positions in the scientific elite,
he was also a charismatic man, and his students, Péligot for
one, but also Louis Pasteur, have been extremely devoted
to him all their life.
Among the numerous scientific subjects treated
by Eugène Péligot, some on fundamental subject
like uranium, others more connected to the industrial
preoccupations of his time like distillation, sugar, etc.,
he also wrote two books on glass manufacturing.
The first is a published version of his lessons on glass,
selected from the general program of his chair : Douze
leçons sur l’art de la verrerie 10, then a revised and enriched
version: Le verre, son histoire, sa fabrication in 1877. 11
He also took part in the jury of numerous exhibitions,
for instance he wrote the report on glassmaking in
1862 (London Universal Exhibition) and in 1867, with
Georges Bontemps, the report on plate and window glass
(Paris Universal exhibition).
In terms of the collection, it is interesting to note that
the first objects relating to glassmaking (except for a few
models of polishing machinery for lenses and mirrors and
for the British products collection) are a large donation
from Georges Bontemps in 1842. It comprises more than
fifty tools, pots, moulds, fabrication steps and finished
pieces (inv. 02787 till 2807).
Unfortunately the Conservatoire hasn’t kept any
correspondence for this period and we don’t know
the motivation behind this gift. Georges Bontemps
Roth “Eugène Péligot”, II, 372‑381
8 For instance, he was professor at the Ecole
Polytechnique, professor at the Faculty of
Medicine and at the Faculty of Science. He
trusted the presidency of numerous scientific
societies. It is also to be noted that he was the
son‑in‑law of Alexandre Brongniart. He was
briefly Minister for Commerce and Agriculture
in the government of Louis Napoléon
Bonaparte (1850‑1851) and in a position to
place at the head of the Conservatoire a man
according to his wishes to reform technical
higher education. He became senator after
the creation of the Empire.
9 10
11
Péligot, 1862.
Péligot, 1877.
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Fig 1 Several objects from this early
donation by Bontemps are still figuring
prominently in the Materials section of the
Musée des arts et métiers. In particular, a
step by step presentation of the making
of a crystal jug ©ALC/Musée des arts et
métiers/CNAM‑Paris.
12
(1799‑1883), director of the Choisy‑le‑Roy glass factory
was a well introduced man and was certainly interested
in the technical education of his time. Both Péligot and
Bontemps were members of the Societé d’encouragement
à l’industrie nationale, an instance created in 1801 by the
chemist Jean‑Antoine Chaptal 12, then Minister of the
Interior, as a twin institution to encourage innovation,
together with the Conservatoire. It is at that time presided
by the inescapable Jean‑Baptiste Dumas.
In 1845, Eugène Péligot was sent to Austria on behalf on
the Parisian chamber of commerce to review the exhibition
of national products in Vienna, and to visit different
sites. 13 He devotes a large section of his report 14 on glass.
His observations are again more of an economical nature,
Benoit, Emptoz and Woronoff, 2006.
Girard,1890. Girard signals that Péligot
made this trip to Vienna with the directors
of the Saint‑Louis glassworks, Marcus and
Seiler and the Baccarat glassworks, Toussaint,
but the report insists more on remarks and
guidance given by these to Péligot while
writing his report and comparing his notes
with those from a previous trip made by these
directors.
13
14
Péligot, 1846.
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Fig. 2 A Bohemian cup in filigree
glass, 1845, inv. 3096‑014.
©Charlotte Compan, Musée des
arts et métiers/CNAM‑Paris.
which is certainly due to the interests of his patrons, the
glass products of Bohemia being for a large part subject
to very important tax fees or to an import ban. He is
particularly interested, by the colored glass, noting the
considerable advance of the Bohemian glassmakers on the
subject. He notes the difference of quality on filigree glass,
the French examples from Saint‑Louis, Baccarat or Maës et
Clémandot (verrerie de Clichy) being superior. He also tells
about seeing French samples being copied in the workshops,
alleging the fierce international competition on these
products.
Forty pieces of Bohemian glass (inv. 3096) are noted in
the inventory for that same year 1845 and it is tempting
to think that they were probably brought back by Péligot,
though again no archives can confirm this assumption. The
inventory indicates as origin Clech and Lizé about whom we
haven’t found anything. It is mostly cut glass: goblets, ewers
and a few colored pieces, thirty‑one are still remaining today.
During these early years of Peligot’s teaching there is also
a large acquisition of glass and ceramics objects (more than
a hundred artefacts) from a certain Jean‑Baptiste Lacroix –
also unknown. Finally in a balance act against the acquisition
of Bohemian pieces, fourteen pieces from Launay Hautin,
which held the common depot of Baccarat and Saint‑Louis
(inv. 3043), are brought into the collections. It is mostly
colored and tripled or quadrupled glass.
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A comparison with the Musée céramique and vitrique
established by Brongniart at the Sèvres manufacture 15 would
be very interesting and from a superficial study we know
that the two collections are close, demonstrating thereby
that they were both intended for a public of manufacturers
or technicians.
We have no testimony for the lessons of Péligot but a
marginal note in the inventory: « brisés au service du cours
de Chimie appl. » (broken during the lesson of chemistry
applied to the arts), confirms their effective use during
the lessons. It is the case for vases and goblets as well as
chemistry glasses. We can imagine that some objects were
brought in front of the audience and could have been broken
by improper handling.
Part of the attraction for the Conservatoire chair
was the access to a laboratory which could be used by
manufacturers, both in essay and control. Again, the lack of
archives is a handicap and we are really unable to tell that
story but our intuition is that it must have played a key role in
the meeting with industrials. Péligot was a very experienced
chemist — a large number of his publications are reports
of his analyses — and his prestigious role as head of the
laboratory at the Mint would establish him as a reference.
In the 1845 report, he mentions some essays and analyses
made in his laboratory.
The first chair of Ceramics: Jacques Ebelmen
During the 1840’s the number of chairs grows steadily
and in 1848 a special chair for ceramics is opened, despite
the opposition from the body of Conservatoire professors
who are pleading for general courses. 16 Jacques Ebelmen 17
(1814‑1852), a chemist and mining engineer, is chosen to hold
it. Between 1848 and 1852, he gives lessons but his main
function is administrator of the Sèvres Manufacture where
he has been chosen as an heir to the famous mineralogist
Alexandre Brongniart (1770‑1847). He seems to have been
kept more than busy with the Manufacture but we are
lucky that his personal papers have been preserved at the
Manufacture’s archives.
Just as Eugène Péligot, Anselme Payen — the second
chemistry professor at the Conservatoire —, or Arthur Morin,
professor of mechanics, Ebelmen is also an engineer keen
to sustain the industrial development and to encourage
« applied science ». Of course he is a member of the Société
d’encouragement. 18
The revolution in 1848 brings down the Louis‑Philippe
regime and with it changes in the Conservatoire. In particular
as Jean‑Baptiste Dumas is (briefly) Minister of Commerce
and Agriculture in the Louis Napoléon Bonaparte’s
government. His interest and ambition is that of renovating
technical higher education. 19 He chooses Arthur Morin,
already professor of Mechanics applied to the arts since
1839, who shares his views and is also close to the future
Emperor. Morin will be the administrator, then the director
until his death in 1880 20.
Under his guidance administrative practices are renewed
and new qualified staff is brought in for the administration
and the library. The buildings at rue Saint‑Martin are
renovated and enlarged, the Conservatoire roughly gaining
his permanent figure at that time, under the architect Léon
Vaudoyer. In a letter to the Minister 21, Morin stresses that
the galleries are rarely opened and that a lot of collections
15
Slitine, 2013.
A few years later it is again worded by the
old Boussingault : « M. Boussingault pense
que l’institution du Conservatoire n’est pas
destinée à l’enseignement de telle ou telle
profession, mais à répandre les principes
généraux d’amélioration applicables à la
plupart d’entre elles : si chacune des grandes
industries chimiques avait un enseignement
spécial, les cours généraux de chimie
appliquée du Conservatoire seraient réduits
au rôle de simples cours de faculté. » Archives
CNAM 2AA/2 séance du 10 avril 1861.
16
17
Emptoz « Ebelmen », I, 480‑491.
The society had committees (in particular a
committee for chemical arts) and was mostly
active through a policy of encouragement
with prizes and subsidies on the industrial
arts.
18
He is also one of the founders of the Ecole
centrale des arts et manufactures in 1829.
See also Belhoste, « Jean‑Baptiste Dumas »,
53‑64.
19
20
21
Fontanon, « Arthur Morin », II, 311‑321.
Archives CNAM, 2AA/2 October 6th 1849.
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Fig. 3 A cristal cut and polished crystal
jug from a « Birmingham fabric », probably
Osler (inv. 2016), brought back by the
secret mission of the Conservatoire in
England in 1819 ; selected by Ebelmen for
the collection. © Charlotte Compan/Musée
des arts et métiers — CNAM, Paris
are used only by the director or the teachers, the institution
losing its view of spreading technology and concentrating
more on science.
His attention to the galleries is the start of a new era for
the now called Musee industriel. A precise inventory, asked
repeatedly by the Ministry to its predecessor, the physicist
Claude Pouillet, is finally issued. This inventory known as the
first log is retrospective and based on receipts (unfortunately
not kept). It goes back to the first years of the Conservatoire.
In this renovation movement, some collections,
considered as obsolete are put aside. It is the case of
the Salle des produits anglais, a commercial collection
bought after a secret mission of the Conservatoire in
1819. 22 Professors are being called to select the pieces
they would like to preserve and display in a new thematic
arrangement 23. A series of painted panes of glass (inv. 1926)
and of crystal glasses and jugs bought in Birmingham
(inv. 2016) are chosen by Ebelmen, the new professor
of ceramics.
On the basis of the inventory, Morin designs a thematic
cataloguing of the collections with twenty‑two sections
named from A to V.
Corcy,« La salle des produits anglais du
Conservatoire des arts et métiers ».
22
23
Archives CNAM, 2AA/2, March 19th 1850.
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Fig. 4 Drawing by Ebelmen of the glassmaker’s
tools given by Bontemps in 1842. Archives
de la Manufacture de Sèvres, U17, liasse 52,
document 4 © ALC
The 1851 catalogue and the following editions (1855,
1859, 1864, 1870, 1876, 1882)
It is of course Jacques Ebelmen who is in charge of
the O section, devoted to ceramics and glassmaking,
the Sèvres Manufacture’s archives still holding his
preliminary notes and sketches. 24
It is difficult to get an idea of the organisation of
the rooms as the catalogue brings together ceramics
and glass objects with distinctions made in terms of
technology rather than in terms of museum display.
In this section O, glass collections are described
between Op and Oy, with an appendix. 25 It lists a total
of 316 items, with sometimes a large collection of
artefacts assembled under a single item number.
The first subsection Op, under the heading
technologie, comprises raw materials, tools, and
molds. It comprises also the step by step fabrication
details and a sample of French pieces in colored or
decorated glass, all listed by their technique in a very
didactic way.
Oq généralités has the largest number of items
(more than two hundred), with the Bohemian glass
bought in 1845 and the more recent donations
by the Saint‑Louis, Baccarat, and Plaine de Walsh
glassworks. Or verres d’objectifs, verres à vitre,
cylindres, tubes et tuyaux is a small division
on window glass and glass specialities (optics
themselves would be treated as part of the physics
collection). Os vases et instruments de chimie shows
a large collection of glasses used for chemistry
experiences. Ot pierres gemmes artificielles, objets
24
Archives Sèvres Manufacture, U17.
Morin, 1851. See http://cnum.cnam.fr/CGI/
redir.cgi?M7739
25
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façonnés à la lampe d’émailleur, verre filé et verre tissé is
concernend with artificial gems and lampworked objects.
The last sections and the appendix describe a few samples
of coloured glass for stained glass and mirrors as well as
objects showing defects.
It is worth taking a closer look to the important
donations by Saint‑Louis and Baccarat in 1851. As we have
correspondence minutes 26 for these years we know that in a
letter to Pierre‑Antoine Godard‑Desmarets, the administrator
of Baccarat, Morin indicates that Saint‑Louis has already given
a comprehensive collection and that he wishes that Baccarat
shall keep her donation up to date with future gifts. 27
Eighty pieces by the Manufacture of Saint‑Louis (inv.
5919‑6000), encompassing a wide range of techniques,
press molded pieces, venetian decorated crystal, mainly
colored glass with tripled our quadrupled cut glass have
been kept. The gift of ninety‑six pieces by Baccarat (inv.
6001‑6096) is very close in the variety of techniques
and quality of objects. Documented by a precise list and
terminology, these vases and glass artefacts of all sorts
are a French answer to the large number of foreign glass
and ceramics bought at the London Universal Exhibition of
the same year where neither Baccarat nor Saint‑Louis had
participated.
In the catalogue we also notice a number of pieces
that must have been standing at the Conservatoire for
a long time but hadn’t been listed. In this miscellaneous
list are found mirrors given by Pajot‑Descharmes, and
diverse products, some probably coming from the various
Expositions des produits de l’industrie nationale, held since
1798 at the Louvre.
FIG. 5 Goblet in quadrupled glass (inv.
6053), gift of Baccarat in 1851. © Service
de l’inventaire/Musée des arts et métiers —
CNAM, Paris.
Archives CNAM, 5AA/2, January 20th and
April 28th 1851.
26
« tenir cette collection au courant des
progrès nouveaux de votre art » Archives
CNAM 5AA/2, April 28th, 1851.
27
fig. 6 A piece of glass brocade by
Dubus‑Bonnel (inv. 5863), 1839 © Charlotte
Compan/Musée des arts et métiers
— CNAM, Paris.
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It is interesting to note that Ebelmen was also able to
organise a transfer of pieces between the Conservatoire and
the Sèvres Manufacture galleries, according to his interest
but also to get rid of similar objects.
But Jacques Ebelmen died prematurely in 1852; his
successor at the Manufacture, Henri Regnault, refused to
teach the lessons at the Conservatoire, so Eugène Péligot
started again his glassmaking lessons in the program of
applied chemistry.
In 1855, a second version of the Catalogue was published,
with all the recent additions in particular the glass
acquisitions made at the Crystal Palace in 1851 among which
pieces of Bohemian glass from the Buquoy glassworks (inv.
4630 till 4640) and from the Count of Harrach glassworks
(inv. 4808‑4809), or more than thirty pieces of English
glasses from Osler (inv. 4726‑4735) and sixteen from Apsley,
Pellatt & Cy (inv. 4736‑4751).
Towards a new chair
However successful were Peligot’s lessons, the Chamber
of Commerce, probably under the pressure of local
manufacturers, insisted for the re‑creation of a specific chair
devoted to ceramics and glass.
In 1868, Jean‑François Persoz, professor of dyes and
textile printing, died. As his chair was entirely subsidised by
the Chamber of Commerce, an arrangement was made to
please different industrial branches, and a new chair was set
up under the name Chimie appliquée aux industries de la
teinture, de la céramique et de la verrerie (chemistry applied
to the industry of dyeing, ceramics and glassmaking). The
chemist Victor de Luynes 28 (1828‑1904) was appointed. He
chose to alternate from one year to another on these two
very different subjects. Under his guidance, until 1905, a new
era for research and collection started.
Conclusion
Despite the lack of archives, the collections assembled
or catalogued by the professors in the first half of the
19th century do tell us a lot about the interests of the
manufacturers and the taste of an era. As these professors
were strongly engaged in the scientific and economic
societies of their time.
Through its role in education and innovation, as a
laboratory, as a learned society of professors with links with
the scientific and industrial world, the Conservatoire was
able to shine in many directions despite the fact that it didn’t
deliver diplomas until the next century.
Its popularity is certainly due to the public of craftsmen,
manufacturers, and skilled workers who could benefit from
an updated information and therefor hope for a better
position.
The galleries of the Musée industriel, should rightly
be considered as an instrument in the design set for the
Conservatoire by his founder, Henri Grégoire 29 in 1794 :
“(to) enlighten ignorance that knows not and poverty that
has no means of acquiring knowledge” 30.
28
Emptoz « Victor de Luynes », II, 151‑158
Henri Grégoire (1750‑1831), also known as
Abbé Grégoire was a priest and a prominent
political actor during the French Revolution.
He was elected at the National Convention
in 1792 and wrote the civil constitution of the
clergy. On his role at the Conservatoire, see
Salomon « Henri Grégoire », I, 586‑595.
29
Original french text : « Il faut éclairer
l’ignorance qui ne connaît pas, et la pauvreté
qui n’a pas les moyens de connaître. »
30
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anglais du Conservatoire des arts et métiers », Ana Maria Cardoso (Université
d’Evora), Marie‑Sophie Corcy, Christiane Demeulenaere‑Douyère (Archives
Nationales), Irina Gouzevitch (EHESS), colloque international Cabinets de
curiosités, collections techniques et musées d’arts et métiers, Origines,
mutations et usages, des Lumières à la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Paris,
Musée des arts et métiers (Cnam), Centre Maurice Halbwachs (EHESS) et
Université d’Evora (CIDEHUS), Paris, 29 septembre‑1er octobre 2011.
Dufaux, Lionel et al, 2014. The Musée des Arts et Métiers. Paris : Artlys.
Chimie industrielle. Professeur : Clément‑Desormes. Journal des cours de 1825
à 1830. Par J. M. Baudot qui en fait hommage à la bibliothèque en octobre
1844. Manuscript in four volumes from the CNAM library.
Emptoz Gérard « Jacques Ebelmen » in Dictionnaire des professeurs du CNAM
ed. Claudine Fontanon and André Grelon. (Paris : INRP — CNAM, 1994), I,
480‑491.
Emptoz Gérard « Victor de Luynes » in Dictionnaire des professeurs du CNAM,
ed. Claudine Fontanon and André Grelon. (Paris : INRP — CNAM, 1994), II,
151‑158.
Fontanon Claudine « Arthur Morin » in Dictionnaire des professeurs du CNAM
ed. Claudine Fontanon and André Grelon. (Paris : INRP — CNAM, 1994), II,
311‑321.
Fontanon, Claudine and Grelon, André, Dictionnaire des professeurs du CNAM.
Paris : INRP — CNAM, 1994. 2 volumes. A third volume is currently under
preparation by the same authors.
Girard, Aimé. 1890. Notice sur les travaux scientifiques de Eugène Péligot. Paris
: Chamenot.
Morin Arthur, 1851. Conservatoire des arts et métiers. Catalogue des collections.
Paris : Guiraudet et Jouaust. http://cnum.cnam.fr/CGI/redir.cgi?M7739
de commerce de Paris sur l’exposition des produits de l’industrie autrichienne,
ouverte à Vienne le 15 mai 1845. Paris : Imprimerie Veuve Dondey‑Dupré.
Péligot, Eugène. 1862. Douze leçons sur l’art de la verrerie. Paris : Boursier et
Cie. First published in Annales du Conservatoire, janvier 1862.
Péligot, Eugène, 1877. Le Verre, son histoire, sa fabrication. Paris : Masson.
Roth, Etienne ”Eugène Péligot” in Dictionnaire des professeurs du CNAM
ed. Claudine Fontanon and André Grelon. (Paris : INRP — CNAM, 1994), II,
372‑381.
Salomon, Jean‑Jacques « Henri Grégoire » in Dictionnaire des professeurs du
CNAM ed. Claudine Fontanon and André Grelon. (Paris : INRP — CNAM,
1994), I, 586‑595.
Slitine, Florence, 2013. Quelques verres prestigieux de la collection Sèvres —
Cité de la céramique. Compte‑rendu illustré de la Société des Amis de du
Musée national de la Céramique de Sèvres. Unpublished text collected on a
DVD‑ROM.
Thépot, André « Nicolas Clément‑Désormes » in Dictionnaire des professeurs
du CNAM ed. Claudine Fontanon and André Grelon. (Paris : INRP — CNAM,
1994), I, 337‑339.
which
provenance?
FROM THE CATHEDRAL
TO THE COLLECTOR
THE JOURNEY OF A MEDIEVAL
STAINED GLASS IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
abstract
resumo
Normandy is today one of the areas of France that retains the
largest group of ancient stained glass. At the beginning of the
XIXth century, an important number of windows moved to the art
market and Rouen was particularly affected by this phenomenon.
The example of Rouen cathedral is well documented and allow
to follow the journey of a medieval stained glass, from the
windows of the church to the collector. The painted glass was
removed from its original location after a restoration, then stolen
by the glass painter in charge. He transformed an hagiographic
stained glass into a small royal portrait, much more adapted
to the market requirements. Then ready to be selled, this work
went to the parisian market, in the hands of art dealers who
had connections with americans collectors. This communication
will retrace the journey of this stained glass, which became the
property of the famous William Hearst.
A Normandia é hoje uma das áreas de França com o maior grupo
de vitrais antigos. No início do século xix, um importante número
de janelas foi colocado no mercado de arte e a Catedral de Rouen
foi particularmente afetada por este fenómeno. O exemplo da
Catedral de Rouen está bem documentado e permite seguir o
percurso de um vitral medieval, desde as janelas da igreja até
ao colecionador. O vidro pintado foi removido do seu local
original depois de um restauro, então roubado pelo pintor de
vidro responsável pelo mesmo. Este transformou um vidtral
hagiográfico num pequeno retrato real, muito mais adaptado
às exigências do mercado. Deste modo preparado para ser
vendido, o trabalho foi levado para o mercado parisiense, por
mãos de comerciantes de arte com ligações com colecionadores
americanos. Esta comunicação pretende reconstruir a viagem
deste vitrais, que se vieram a tornar propriedade do famoso
William Hearst.
Keywords
stained-glass | restoration | panneau d’antiquaire | Rouen
Palavras-Chave
vitral | restauro | painel de antiquário | Rouen
C a r o l i n e Bl o n d e a u ‑M o r i z o t
Dr in Art History, Université Paris-Sorbonne
RHA 03 145 DOSSIER FROM THE CATHEDRAL TO THE COLLECTOR...
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T
he 19th century was a turbulent period for the
cultural heritage in France, and in particular, for
stained glass windows. After the French revolution in 1789,
many churches were closed and abandoned, sometimes sold
or even destroyed. At the beginning of the 19th century, an
important number of stained glass windows were placed
on the art market and Rouen was particularly affected
by this phenomenon (Lafond 1960, 5‑16). In the
city, called « la ville aux cent clochers » (Hugo 1832,
223‑224), many churches and parishes were removed
after 1789, and a big part of the stained glass heritage
with them 1.
However, the revolution was not the sole cause of the
dismemberment of painted windows: the execution of
restoration work was also responsible for the loss of a lot
of stained glass. An example of this is the Rouen cathedral,
which is well documented and allows us to follow the
continuous journey of a medieval stained glass, from the
windows of the church to the collector.
In 1463, the canons of the cathedral decided to renew
the windows of the two sides aisle in the nave. They called
on Guillaume Barbe’s services, and he made 17 stained
glass windows between 1463 and 1469 (Callias‑Bey 2001).
His works can be classified into two categories: “images”,
which were figures of saints inserted into a white glazing,
and legendary windows depicting the lives of the saints and
episodes from the Passion. These were paid for by external
donors: in 1465, the “receveur” of the city paid 20 “escus
d’or” for the making of a new glass in the chapel of saint
Romain, called the Petit Saint‑Romain, at the end of the
south side of the nave 2.
Guilaume Barbe painted a quadruple lancet window with
four registers depicting the life of the patron saint of Rouen:
the miracle of the flood, the miracle of the “ Gargouille “
(a monster who lived in the swamps near Rouen; a gargoyle),
the miracle of the holy oils, the privilege of Saint Romain
(who gave him the right to free one prisoner every year) and
the gift of the charter by Dagobert.
Until the 19th century, the window, as well as its neighbors
in the southern aisle of the church, suffered a lot of damage
due to the proximity of houses near the cathedral, that
caused an important flow of water and humidity (Langlois
1823, 121‑127).
In the 1820’s, the glazing of the cathedral was in a very
worrying state. Mostly comprised of medieval stained glass,
the church suffered from lack of maintenance and of poor
quality repairs.
In 1822, a fire started in the arrow, causing it to fall.
This lead to the development of a plan to remove all the
windows in the south aisle, a project which fortunately never
succeeded. Though the fire had little impact on the state
of the glass, the architect’s reaction to the fire reflected
the lack of interest for medieval stained glass at that time.
From 1823 to 1838, several campaigns were successively
conducted by the glaziers Joseph Gourre and René‑François
You (called You Renaud), for the replacement of molten
lead and glass damaged by the heat 3. The restorations
consisted in the removal of damaged panels and the filling
of the empty spaces with white glass, and parts taken from
other windows. The Petit‑Saint‑Romain was then amputated
of its lower section, which was used to fill the gaps in a
nearby window. This was completed with civilian grisaille
1 Rouen was called « la ville aux cent
clochers « according to the formula of Victor
Hugo in his Feuilles d’Automne. « Ami, c’est
donc Rouen, la ville aux vieilles rues, aux
vieilles tours, débris des races aux cent
clochers carillonnant dans l’air, le Rouen
des hôtels, des églises, des bastilles dont le
front hérissé de flèches et d’aiguilles déchire
incessamment les brumes de la mer «.
Rouen, Archives départementales de
Seine‑Maritime, G 2136, 11‑13 mai 1465.
2 Rouen, Archives départementales de la
Seine‑Maritime, 4 N 504. Gourre, Joseph,
« Restauration des vitraux de la cathérale
de Rouen, devis estimatif «, 6 janvier 1823.
You Renaud, « Mémoire des réparations,
fournitures et façons faites aux vitraux des
chapelles de la contre nef du côté vers le sud
de la cathédrale de Rouen «, 1838.
3 RHA 03 146 DOSSIER FROM THE CATHEDRAL TO THE COLLECTOR...
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Fig. 1 Rouen, cathedral Notre-Dame,
Voyages pittoresques et romantiques
dans l’ancienne France, lithography
by G. Engelmann, 1878.
panels, made originally for the archbishopric of Rouen (Loth
1879) 4.
Many voices rose against these practices and urged the
minister of cult to properly restore the church. The diocesan
architects, Louis Desmarets and Jacques‑Eugène Barthélémy
joined these claims and officially certified the deplorable
state of the cathedral. In 1858, the department reacted and
launched a major project to restore the building, led by
L. Desmarets and J‑E. Barthélémy, and the stained‑glass
part was assigned to the glazier Jules Boulanger. The whole
project was supervised by Eugène Viollet‑le‑Duc, then
architect in charge of Historical Monuments. Famous for his
many restoration and renovation works, he wanted to apply
his doctrine of ‘unity of style’: the building had to be returned
in the state it was in at the time of its creation. “ Restaurer
un édifice, ce n’est pas l’entretenir, le réparer ou le refaire,
c’est le rétablir dans un état complet qui peut n’avoir jamais
existé à un moment donné “ (Viollet‑le‑Duc 1869 : 14). The
architecture of the building and the monumental arts inside
had to form a coherent whole. This vision derived from deep
nationalism: medieval art, and especially gothic art, was seen
as the only French art, far from the excesses of classicism.
This position was highly contested but nevertheless
prevailed — all later additions to the main construction had
to be destroyed. The most famous result of Viollet‑le‑Duc’s
doctrine is the window of Notre‑Dame‑du‑Jardin, enlarged
in the 16th century, destroyed in 1863 and then rebuilt in the
13th century style. This stained‑glass by the famous glazier
Engrand Le Prince, no longer fitted the shape of the window,
and was consequently removed, stored in boxes and stolen
(Hérold 2001, 41‑51). Today, the various panels of this
According to the testimony of François
de Guilhermy. De Guilhermy, François : Paris,
Bibliothèque nationale de France, N.a.fr.
6107, f°142, Description des localités de la
France. These grisaille panels are today in the
windows of the archbishopric of Rouen.
4 RHA 03 147
FROM THE CATHEDRAL TO THE COLLECTOR...
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Fig. 2 Clerk attempting at the coronation of saint
Romain, from the copy of the Petit-Saint-Romain, by
Jules Boulanger, 1879-1884.
window are partially preserved in Philadelphia’s Museum of
Art, in Écouen’s Musée national de la Renaissance, in Rouen’s
Musée des antiquités de la Seine Maritime and in private
collections worldwide (Burnam 2012) 5.
For the rest of the stained‑glass in the building, and
especially for the windows in the side aisle, the architects
and the glass painter classified the works into two
categories: “to be restored” and “to be replaced” 6. For
the first, it was about cleaning the stained glass, inserting
Fig. 3 Saint Romain and King Dagobert,
from the copy of the Petit-Saint-Romain,
by Jules Boulanger, 1879-1884.
bouche‑trous, and replacing lead. The second part however,
only applied theoretically to two windows of the nave: the
Petit‑Saint‑Romain and a neighbouring window representing
figures of saints overcome by Christ carrying the cross
(Blondeau 2014, 74‑75, 79‑81). Corroded by moisture, these
windows were considered too degraded to stay in the
building and were disposed of. They were however part of
the stained glass windows program painted between 1460
and 1470 for the nave, and their removal created a gap in the
Philadelphie, Museum of Art, Inv. 45. 25. 165
and 45. 25. 166.
Écouen, Musée national de la Renaissance,
Inv. Ec.292a, Ec.292b and Ec.292c
Rouen, Musée des antiquités de la
Seine‑Maritime, Inv. 2008.3.9
5 Paris, Archives nationales, sous‑série
des
Cultes, F 19 7854. « Devis général, sommaire
et approximatif des travaux
à faire pour
la restauration complète de la cathédrale
de Rouen, dressé
par MM. Barthélémy et
Desmarets, architectes diocésains ».
6 RHA 03 148 DOSSIER FROM THE CATHEDRAL TO THE COLLECTOR...
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program and spoiled the unity so desired. The two architects’
solution was to make a copy of the two stained‑glass
windows. The glazier Jules Boulanger therefore made a copy
and, to fill the gaps, copied other windows of the cathedral
to create a more coherent piece of work. The Boulanger
copies, which were now more presentable, were inserted into
the walls of the cathedral while the originals were placed in
storage and quickly disappeared. In 1911, when Jean Lafond
completed an inventory of this depot, he noticed that the
original of the Petit‑Saint‑Romain was stolen: it was, in fact,
already on the art market in the hands of a Parisian antique
dealer (Blondeau 2010, 71‑74).
But selling such a monumental stained glass is not easy.
In order to adapt to the market requirements and to make
it more attractive for customers, this work of art was in
need of important remodeling. Stained glass, consisting of
pieces of glass embedded in lead, is a malleable medium.
Thus, like the cuttings in illuminations, the Petit‑Saint‑Romain
was completely dismantled and rebuilt, creating a new
composition: a fake, with authentic fragments. Thus, the
life of the first archbishop of Rouen was transformed into
a royal portrait. The photographs of the Boulanger copies
identify precisely which parts were reused: a witness
of the Gargouille’s capture by a prisoner becomes the
future Dauphin, one of the canons at the coronation of
Saint Romain becomes King Charles VII, and the King
Dagobert becomes Saint Catherine (Ritter 1926, LXXX,
LXXXII‑LXXXVI). The author of this reconstruction used
other ancient fragments as well: a wheel and a palm, symbols
of the martyrdom of Saint Catherine and some scrolls in the
background, probably from one of the neighboring windows
in the nave. He also added some new elements: halos,
crowns and scepters. The quality of this work suggests that
the author was Jules Boulanger himself. He had a facilitated
access to the storage of the cathedral, and his other stained
glass windows show how skillfully he was able to copy the
style of the 15th century. Indeed, many of his restorations are
in fact very good reconstructions and excellent copies, like
the majority of restorations during 19th century, where there
was less care for the conservation of old works of art than
Fig. 4 Witness, miracle of the Gargouille’s
capture, from the copy of the
Petit‑Saint‑Romain, by Jules Boulanger,
1879-1884.
149 DOSSIER FROM THE CATHEDRAL TO THE COLLECTOR...
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for the restitution of coherent iconographic compositions
(Pillet 2010, 85). Moreover, the fate of the removed and
unused parts of the windows following a restoration was an
issue that had never been the subject of legislation in the
19th century. Besides the fact that the glaziers were often
themselves collectors, it was not uncommon for parts of
lesser quality and value to be used for teaching exercises for
apprentices (Luneau 2006, 108). In this case however, the
high quality of the stained glass indicated that its primary
purpose was to be sold.
The topic chosen for this window: a royal portrait, is
a reminder of panel painting. In the 19th century, royal
portraits were popular, very appreciated by collectors, and
the windows of Rouen provided several examples of this. In
fact, another royal portrait came from this set — it had been
created for the nave between 1460 and 1470 (Blondeau
2014, 67‑96). It was a work of lower quality precision, using
a fragment of a face close to Guillaume Barbe’s production,
framed by modern elements (Hindman 2010, 142‑143).
There is another example of the success of pictures of
royals: the theft of a portion of two painted panels in the
church Saint‑Godard in Rouen. Here, the modus operandi
was quite different: between 1857 and 1867, the glazier
Gaspard Gsell, in charge of the restoration of Saint‑Godard
windows, switched a panel from the life of Saint Romain with
a copy that he inserted in the church’s window. This panel,
after falling into private collections, is now in the Louvre and
the copy is still in situ, in Rouen (Hérold 1999, 35‑45). The
fact that only the episode featuring King Dagobert has been
copied is indicative of the success royal images had when
sold on the art market. Out of context, Dagobert, dressed
in 16th Century fashion, is not easily identifiable; when the
panel arrived in the museum collections, it also came under
the name of Charles‑Quint. Without the presence in situ of
the copy in Saint‑Godard, it would have been impossible
Fig. 5 King Charles
VII and the dauphin
presented by saint
Catherine, fragments
from the Petit-SaintRomain, by Guillaume
Barbe, 1465, reused
in a panneau
d’antiquaire made by
Jules Boulanger, 18791884 ©SamFoggLtd.
150 DOSSIER FROM THE CATHEDRAL TO THE COLLECTOR...
RHA 03 Fig. 6 royal portrait, fragment
from a stained-glass window, by
Guillaume Barbe (?), XVth century,
reused in a panneau d’antiquaire
©LesEnluminures.
to identify this king. The issue was similar for the window
of Guillaume Barbe: without the photographic documents
published in 1926, it would have been impossible to trace
this stained glass, believed to be lost, and Guillaume Barbe
could have been wrongly acclaimed as the author of a royal
portrait (Ritter 1926, LXXX, LXXXII — LXXXVI ).
The two legendary stained glass in the south aisle of the
cathedral were not the only ones to be relegated to the
storage; the figures of saints and a picture of the life of saint
Catherine, indicated “to be restored” in the glazier’s estimate,
were disposed of there as well (Blondeau 2014, 73‑86). They
were replaced at an unknown time by modern windows
— creations and copies — while today, very few original
panels that remain are illegible and drowned in abusive
restorations (window 44, cathedral of Rouen). Between 1911,
when the first inventory was made by Jean Lafond, and 1931,
when the boxes were opened for an exhibition of ancient
religious art, many of these stained glass had disappeared,
replaced in the crates by stones.
In regards to the royal portrait, after its creation by Jules
Boulanger (?), it arrived on the Parisian art market and passed
into the hands of Henri Daguerre, art dealer and collector, then
into Seligmann’s house, where a branch had just opened in
New York (Fletcher 2004, 64‑65). In 1925, Arnold Seligmann
sold the stained glass to the famous press tycoon William
Hearst. Publisher, editor and political figure, William Randolph
Hearst was an art collector: over the years, he purchased
huge amounts of antiques and art to be used for his several
residences, the most famous being Hearst Castle, on the
Californian coast. However, these purchases, for the most
part, were kept in several warehouses in New York until Hearst
began to worry about inheritance taxes and the decline of his
fortune after the Depression: he began to sell off his panels in
the course of his lifetime (Caviness 1989, 57‑58). The purchase
of the royal portrait corresponds to the end of construction of
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151 DOSSIER FROM THE CATHEDRAL TO THE COLLECTOR...
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his castle in San Simeon, California: we may think that it was
stored there. The Hearst collection was the largest holding of
stained glass in the United States, outside of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York (Caviness 2012). In 1951 when
he died, the panel was sold to an American couple (Fletcher
2004, 64‑65). From Alabama, the fake portrait made a stop in
Europe where, in 2004, it was sold by the antique dealer Sam
Fogg. It is now owned by a US collector, who also bought the
other portrait from the south aisle of the Rouen cathedral.
This escape of many panels on the art market renders their
identification very difficult. It was discovered that another
man’s head probably also came from the south aisle of the
cathedral, very close to Guillaume Barbe’s work (Hindman
2010, 140‑141). Recently, a head painted by Engrand Le
Prince was also uncovered in the collection of André Marie
in Rouen (Chéron 2008, 59‑64). This stained glass probably
belonged to the window of Notre‑Dame‑du‑Jardin, of which
various fragments are scattered among museums in France
and the United States, and several private collections. If
many stained glass windows came into the art market after
the suppression of twenty churches in Rouen during the
revolutionary period, it is distressing to note that these works
of art which currently supply the art market are supposed
to still be property of the French state. As paradoxical as it
may seem, the history of vandalism sometimes overlaps with
the history of art restorations: in the name of the doctrine
advocated by Viollet‑le‑Duc, the replacement of originals by
copies was applied in Rouen, thus facilitating the transfer of
several major works from the monumental cathedral to the
everyday collector.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Blondeau, Caroline. 2014. Le vitrail à Rouen, 1450‑1530, “l’escu de voirre “,
(Rennes : Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 73‑86.
Blondeau, Caroline. 2010. “ Un pseudo‑portrait du roi Charles VII par Guillaume
Barbe «. Revue de l’art, 167 : 71‑74.
Burnam, Renée. 2012. Stained Glass before 1700 in the Philadelphia Museum of
Art. Corpus Vitrearum USA, Vol. VI/I. London : Harvey Miller Publishers, 2012.
Callias‑Bey, Martine. 2001. Les vitraux de Haute‑Normandie, ed. by Michel
Hérold, Françoise Gatouillat, Martine Callias‑Bey. Paris : CNRS éditions,
332‑352.
Caviness, Madeline H. et Jane Hayward. 1989. Stained Glass before 1 700 in
American Collections : Midwestern and Western States (Corpus Vitrearum
Checklist III). Washington : National Gallery of Art, 57‑58.
Caviness, Madeline H. 2012, Collections of Stained Glass and their Histories, ed.
by Tim Ayers, Brigitte Kurmann‑Schwarz, Claudine Lautier, Hartmut Scholz.
Bern : Peter Lang, 2012.
Chéron, Philippe. 2008. “Un chef‑d’œuvre inédit d’Engrand Le Prince à Rouen “.
Revue de l’Art, 161 : 59‑64.
Fletcher, Arcadia and Michael Michael. 2004. Medieval and Renaissance
stained glass 1200‑1550. London : Sam Fogg, 64‑65.
Hérold, Michel. 1999. “ De la couleur des vitres de Saint‑Godard. Une scène de
la légende de saint Romain au Musée du Louvre “. Revue du Louvre et des
musées de France, 5 : 35‑45.
Hérold, Michel. 2001. “ Virgo ex Machina, le vitrail de la confrérie
Notre‑Dame‑du‑Jardin à la cathédrale de Rouen, par Engrand le Prince “.
Revue du Louvre et des musées de France, 3: 41‑51.
Hindman, Sandra, and Ariane Bergeron‑Foote. 2010. France 1500, the pictorial
arts at the dawn of the Renaissance. Paris : Sandra Hindman, 140‑141.
Hugo, Victor. 1832. Feuilles d’Automne. Paris : Renduel, 223‑224.
Lafond, Jean. 1960. “Le commerce des vitraux étrangers anciens en
Angleterre
aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles”. Revue des Sociétés savantes de
Haute‑Normandie 20 (1960) : 5‑16.
Langlois, Eustache‑Hyacinthe, Notice sur l’incendie de la cathédrale de Rouen.
Rouen : Baudry, 1823. 121‑127.
Loth, Julien. 1879. La cathédrale de Rouen, son histoire, sa description depuis les
origines jusqu’à nos jours. Rouen : Fleury.
Luneau, Jean‑François. 2006. Félix Gaudin : peintre verrier et mosaïste
(1851‑1930). Clermont‑Ferrand : Presses Universitaires Blaise Pascal, 108.
Pillet, Élisabeth. 2010. Le vitrail à Paris au XIXe siècle. Rennes : Presses
Universitaires de Rennes, 85.
Ritter, Georges. 1926. Les vitraux de la cathédrale de Rouen. Cognac : Ét. Fac,
LXXX, LXXXII — LXXXVI.
Viollet‑le‑Duc, Eugène. 1869. Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française
du XIe au XVIe siècle, Paris : Morel, 8 : 14.
NEW OBSERVATIONS
CONCERNING THE
STOKE POGES
WINDOWS
ABSTRACT
ReSUMO
The Stoke Poges windows in the Detroit Institute of Arts have
long intrigued scholars of stained glass, especially the question
of their earliest provenance and the identification of the
workshop responsible for making them. This paper explores the
strong possibility that they were imported from Germany in the
nineteenth century rather than made in England by continental
glaziers in the sixteenth century.
As janelas Stoke Poges no Instituto de Artes de Detroit têm,
desde há muito, intrigado os estudiosos de vitrais, especialmente
a questão da sua mais antiga proveniência e a identificação da
oficina responsável pela sua execução. Este artigo explora a forte
possibilidade de que eles foram importados da Alemanha, no
século xix, em vez de fabricados na Inglaterra por vidreiros do
continente, no século xvi.
KEYWORDS
Detroit Institute of Arts | Stained Glass | Stoke Poges,
Buckinghamshire | William Randolph Hearst | Jeffry Wyatville
palavras-chave
INSTITUTE DE ARTES DE DETROIT | Vitral | Stoke Poges,
Buckinghamshire | William Randolph Hearst | Jeffry Wyatville
Yao‑Fen You
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, USA
RHA 03 153 DOSSIER NEW OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE STOKE POGES WINDOWS
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A
mong the highlights of post‑medieval glass in the
Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) are six large, rectangular
panels of full‑length figures that once featured prominently
in an annex to the Church of Saint Giles in Stoke Poges,
Buckinghamshire. [Fig. 1] Located to the west of London,
Stoke Poges is perhaps better known as the final resting
place of the poet Thomas Gray, and it is believed that the
graveyard of Saint Giles, where he is buried, provided the
inspiration for “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”
(1751). Dating to the first quarter of the sixteenth century,
the windows are notable for their monumental conception,
the quality of their glass, the fine application of paint, and
the extensive use of silver stain and stipple shading — all
distinctive features of Lower Rhenish glass. Two panels
represent the Virgin holding the Christ child; the rest
portray saints Adrian of Nicomedia, Anthony the Abbot,
Barbara, and Wenceslaus. [Figs. 2–4] Each panel measures
approximately 180 by 59.5 cm. 1 Two non‑figural panels
comprised of architectural motifs were also associated
with this grouping in the nineteenth century at Stoke
Poges. [Fig. 5]
Five of the panels came into the DIA collection in 1958.
Little can be established about their provenance prior to the
middle of the nineteenth century. What is sure is that by 1929
the original group of eight panels had been removed from
the church annex. On March 9, 1926, Colonel Albert George
Shaw, then owner of the nearby Tudor manor house, entered
into a contractual agreement with the Stoke Poges Parochial
Church Council to remove the “Flemish stained Glass
Windows” from the church annex, which was technically a
freehold of the manor’s owner. In exchange, the church was
given property title to the annex (“vestibule”), which was
“situated on land belonging to Colonel Shaw.” The right to
removal was valid for five years and made on the condition
that Shaw “refill the spaces formerly occupied” with “suitable
glass to the reasonable satisfaction of the Council and at his
own expense.” 2
By 1929, a year after the famous Ashridge sale, Shaw had
consigned the eight panels as a set to Sotheby’s, where
they were purchased for 2,500 GBP by Lionel Harris of
the Spanish Art Gallery. Harris was most likely bidding on
behalf of French & Company, as the panels very quickly
entered the extensive collection of the newspaper magnate
and insatiable art collector William Randolph Hearst, one
of their most valued clients. 3 Sotheby’s catalogued them
as “fine early German stained glass” and was silent on their
provenance before Colonel Shaw.
The panels remained together in storage at Hearst’s
warehouse in Bronx, New York, until his massive
liquidation sale starting in 1941 at Gimbel Brothers. The
pair of architectural panels was the first to go at a bargain
basement price. Saint Adrian was purchased by the
industrialist John Woodman Higgins in 1943. 4 The remaining
five windows eventually made their way to Detroit in 1958
as part of a larger transfer of objects between the DIA and
Hearst’s estate. 5 With the closing of the Higgins Armory
Museum at the end of 2013, the DIA found itself in a position
to acquire Saint Adrian, thus reuniting the figures for the first
time in sixty‑one years. The whereabouts of the architectural
panels remain unknown. 6
On the basis of nineteenth‑century sources, scholarship
has maintained that the panels were moved to the church
1 Detroit Institute of Arts nos. 58.93–94;
58.111–112; 58.155; 2014.30. The Corpus
Vitrearum entry remains the standard
reference. See Raguin et al. 2001, 201–210.
Agreement between Colonel A.G. Shaw
and Rev. A.T. Barnett, 9 March 1926, Stoke
Poges Parish Records, PR 198/6/15/2, Centre
for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury,
Buckinghamshire.
2 See Sotheby’s 1929, lot 49. I am grateful
to Karen Bucky and to Autumn Lorraine for
generously scanning for me the copies held
respectively in the Sterling and Francine
Clark Art Institute Library and in the Ryerson
and Burnham Libraries, The Art Institute
of Chicago. The date recorded for the sale
between Hearst and French & Company is
June 7, 1929, and by June 17, 1929, the panels
are delivered to Hearst’s storage complex
on Southern Boulevard in Bronx, NY. See
Hearst Album 104, #37, 27–30. It is curious
that Hearst did not buy from Harris directly,
as they had an established relationship by
this time. For further discussion of French &
Company’s close relationship to Hearst, see
Bremer‑David 2003–2004. My account of
the history revises the one put forth in the
Corpus entry: “Colonel Shaw of Stoke Poges
Manor consigned the panels to the dealer,
P.W. French & Co., New York, in 1929 and they
were auctioned by Sotheby’s in London, 16
May 1929.” See Raguin et al. 2001, 150–51.
3 Hammer Galleries 1941, 330 #66–1. Higgins,
who, in 1931, had established the Museum
of Steel and Armor in Worcester, MA, to
house his collection of armor, was primarily
interested in stained glass for the atmosphere
it added to his display of arms and armor.
According to Jeffrey Forgeng, formerly Paul
S. Morgan Curator at the Higgins Armory
Museum, St. Adrian most likely appealed to
Higgins because he is shown in a full suit of
4 RHA 03 154 DOSSIER NEW OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE STOKE POGES WINDOWS
Fig. 1 Gallery View of the Stoke Poges
Windows in the Decorative Arts Courtyard,
Detroit Institute of Arts
©Detroit Institute of Arts 2014
armor. Jeffrey Forgeng, conversation with
author, May 2013.
For further discussion of the Hearst material
in the DIA, see Gallagher 2004, 54–65,
esp. 62.
5 Saint Adrian (formerly Higgins Armory
Museum, 2728) was part of the Higgins
Armory auction on May 7, 2014 at Thomas Del
Mar Ltd in London. See Thomas Del Mar 2014,
lot 316. For further discussion of the panel,
see Caviness 1978, 78–79, and Raguin 1987,
70.
6 annex from the nearby Tudor manor house when it was
demolished in 1789. Whether they were commissioned
for a chapel in the manor house and made by Continental
glaziers of mixed origins active in England, or whether
they were imported in the seventeenth or eighteenth
century from Europe remains a point of discussion,
but there is general agreement that they were in Stoke
Poges by the late eighteenth century and transferred
to the church upon the manor’s demolition. This paper
explores the strong possibility that the panels were instead
imported to England in the first half of the nineteenth
century, most likely from the area around Cologne, during
the vogue for Rhenish glass in England that peaked
between 1815 and 1835, and that the annex was purpose
built to house them. 7 The first part surveys the written
sources, including some previously unpublished, while
the second part submits to close analysis the windows’
nineteenth‑century architectural setting, taking into
account issues raised by the condition and physical
makeup of the panels.
This investigation builds on You 2011. I am
grateful to Peter Martin for supporting my
instinct to question the provenance of the
glass and suggesting that we further explore
its nineteenth‑century setting. Together
we visited the church and the Centre for
Buckinghamshire Studies in late spring 2014
with the plan of co‑authoring this paper. He
was regrettably prevented from doing so, but
his contributions are noted in the footnotes.
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Fig. 2 Saint Adrian, DIA 2014.30 (left) and Saint
Fig. 3 Virgin as Queen of Heaven, DIA 58.94 (left) and
Anthony Abbott, DIA 58.93 (right)
©Detroit Institute of Arts 2014
Saint Wenceslas, DIA 58.111 (right)
©Detroit Institute of Arts 2014
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The Nineteenth‑Century Sources
The earliest mention of the panels is a nineteenth‑century
county history of Buckinghamshire, The History and
Antiquities of the County of Buckingham, by the physician
and antiquarian George Lipscomb. The entry on Stoke Poges
is in volume four, which was published in 1847. Lipscomb
mentions the glass towards the end of his lengthy entry,
singling out the pairings of Saint Adrian and Saint Anthony in
one window, and St. Wenceslaus and the Virgin as Queen of
Heaven in another:
The cloisters of modern erection, contiguous to the north
side of the Church, contain many beautiful specimens of
painted glass, collected out of the ruins of the old Mansion
at Stoke; and exhibit full length portraits of Saints, Martyrs,
&c, of which the most remarkable are in a window towards
the west, in which is a whole length figure of a man in
armour, his sword drawn in his hand. At the top: “Sante…
ora pro.” Another effigy has a book open, with this legend:
“O Pater Sanct. Antoni ora.” In another window, the Virgin
and Child, and “Regina Deorum ora p…” A male figure girt
with a sword: and a devotee praying. 8
The “old Mansion at Stoke” refers to the Tudor manor
house north of the church, which was completed in 1555
by the Hastings family and mostly torn down by John Penn
in 1789 in favor of a late Georgian mansion, Stoke Park, he
had built elsewhere on the estate. 9 By Lipscomb’s time, only
one wing of the Tudor manor house remained and Stoke
Park’s imposing Doric columns, designed by James Wyatt,
dominated the landscape.
Lipscomb’s assertion that the windows were “collected
out of the ruins of the old Mansion at Stoke” has encouraged
scholars in the field of stained glass to assume that they
were in Stoke Poges as early as the sixteenth century, and
that they were possibly the products of foreign glaziers
working in England. As much as the panels retain dominant
stylistic traits of Rhenish glass, they also exhibit some
characteristics associated with Lowland artists working
in French lands. The small heads and long bodies of Saint
Barbara and the Virgin with Christ Child Holding a Top
[Fig. 4] recall the figures of Arnoult de Nimègue, a South
Netherlandish glass painter who was active in Rouen from
about 1500 to 1510. Given the mixture of stylistic features
and the dominance of immigrant glaziers in England during
the early years of the sixteenth century, the authors of the
Corpus Vitrearum thought it “not inconceivable that the
windows had been commissioned from foreign artists for a
manorial chapel.” 10
Standing against the compelling evidence of mixed
workshops of glaziers in sixteenth century England is the
unreliability of the source upon which most arguments about
dating and provenance depend. The genesis of the History
and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham was admittedly
quite complicated. Volume one came out in 1831, but due to
lack of financing, the remaining three volumes only appeared
in print in 1847. Indeed, Lipscomb, who died on November 9,
1846, did not live to see the finished product. Nor could he
claim sole authorship, despite having poured his heart and
soul into it. In 1824, Lipscomb inherited Reverend Edward
Cooke’s life’s work for a history of Buckinghamshire that
Cooke himself had planned to write. Lipscomb, who was,
Lipscomb 1847, vol. 4, 568.
8 There is conflicting information regarding
the demolition of the manor. Following
Lipscomb and John Penn, I maintain the
demolition occurred in 1789. James Sheahan,
whom the Corpus authors cite, places it at
1799. See Sheahan 1862, 871. cf. Lipscomb
1847, vol. 4, 558, and Penn 1813, 59.
9 Raguin et al. 2001, 202; for an extended
discussion of the stylistic issues, 203–205. For
more on the activity of foreign glaziers, see
Marks 1993, 205–228.
10
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coincidentally, the executor of Cooke’s estate, graciously
acknowledged his use of the rector’s “valuable and
important materials” in the preface to his History and
Antiquities, but there were some who felt Cooke was not
given his full due. 11 The author of Lipscomb’s obituary
in Gentleman’s Magazine emphasized that, “Mr. Cooke,
had his life been spared, was eminently qualified to have
produced an able history, from the strength and simplicity
of his style, and the clearness and nervous precision of his
diction.” 12 Another obituary, which appeared in the Records
of Buckinghamshire, cautioned that “the works of our most
eminent historians are not faultless, and to pronounce
Lipscomb’s work to be strictly accurate and in every minute
detail without errors, would be saying too much for it.” 13 In
short, the reliability of History and Antiquities was already
being called into question at the time of its publication, and
it is worth asking if Lipscomb ever saw the Stoke Poges
windows in person.
A more comprehensive and informed treatment of the
windows is found in the last volume of A History of Design
in Painted Glass (1881–94) by the designer and stained
glass authority Nathaniel Westlake. They fall under his
discussion of foreign glass in England and he describes the
glazing with close attention to iconography, quality, and
color scheme:
Fig. 4 Saint Barbara, DIA 58.155 (left) and Virgin and Child Holding a Top,
DIA 58.112 (right)
©Detroit Institute of Arts 2014
In a small annex on the north side of the Church of Stoke
Pogis [sic] there are some excellent figures, which I take
to be of German origin, and probably of the middle of the
sixteenth century. Amongst them there are two figures of
Our Lady, crowned: both carry the Divine Infant…There are
11
Lipscomb wrote: “the still more valuable
and important materials supplied by the
indefatigable labors of the late Reverend
Edward Cooke, A.M. and LL.B. Rector of
Haversham; which he avowed to have formed
the basis of that superstructure which it had
been his endeavor to raise.” Lipscomb 1847,
vol. 1, preface, n.p.
The Gentleman’s Magazine 1847, 90. I
am indebted to Peter Martin for bringing to
my attention the contested authorship of
Lipscomb’s work.
12
13
Gibbs 1878, 38.
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also very good figures of St. Barbara or St. Margaret,
with a tower, she has bare feet; St. Eloi, who holds
his anvil and hammer…St. Anthony, with his rosary,
Φ staff, and pig. The figure of a Saint, with a sword
and alms‑bag…I am not sure who it is intended to
represent — perhaps St. Martin or St. Wenceslaus.
In addition to the six glass panels, we learn of “some
good canopies of unusual design with enameled brown
pink ground, which were probably at one time over the
figures.” 14 This is the first mention of two architectural
panels once associated with the group [Fig. 5].
Westlake is uncertain of the glass’s exact origins — he
thinks it is “probably from the north‑west of Germany”
— but there is no question in his mind that the panels
are representative of a “great deal” of imported
German glass in England. As he noted, “the student
would have to travel hundreds of miles in Germany
to find such a selection of examples as he can study
at Shrewsbury, South Kensington Museum, and Stoke
Pogis [sic].” 15 This mention of the Stoke Poges panels
in the same breath as the Altenberg and Mariawald
windows is an implicit endorsement not only of their
quality, but their status as imported pieces.
In spite of Westlake’s insightful and more reliable
observations, Lipscomb’s History and Antiquities of
the County of Buckingham remained the standard of
reference for later publications. An 1896 account of
Stoke Poges repeated his claim that the windows in
the church annex originated in the Tudor manor house:
“In the cloisters [annex] there is some very remarkable
Fig. 5 Architectural Canopies, French
& Company Photo Archive, The Getty
Research Institute
© The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
(71.P.1)
14
15
Westlake 1894, vol. 4, 63–64.
Ibid., 64.
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glass, part removed from the manor house, part collected
by the late Mr. Coleman, and placed together here.” 16
The authors of the Corpus Vitrearum entry also followed
Lipscomb in recounting the history of the glass.
The Physical Evidence
There are many reasons to believe that the Stoke Poges glass
panels were salvaged during secularization in Germany and
brought to England in the early decades of the nineteenth
century, a period of antiquarian and gothic revival. Not only
was there a ready supply of glass from post‑secularization
Cologne, an ardent demand for “ancient glass” in England,
and ample evidence of a burgeoning trade in stained glass
between the Rhineland and the United Kingdom in this
period, there is the glass itself to consider. The condition of
the panels, their alteration history, and the physical space
they occupied, offer valuable clues about their past.
Let’s look closely at their nineteenth‑ to early
twentieth‑century siting in the church annex. What is
variously meant by Lipscomb’s “cloister of modern erection”
(1847), Westlake’s “small annex on the north side” (1894),
and Shaw’s “private vestibule” (1926) is technically a
Tudoresque porch built in brick and battlemented, with a
gothic ceiling, the whole so curiously shaped that it was
described as an “excrescence” in the revised edition of
Buckinghamshire from the Buildings of England series. 17
[Figs. 6–7] Judging by early Gothic Revival features such as
the prominent bosses, ribbed ceiling vaulting, battlements,
and ogee‑headed windows, one can assign the build date
of this demi‑octagonal structure with east and west wings
to the second decade of the nineteenth century, probably
around 1825. Its existence is documented in an 1833 plan
of St. Giles and churchyard (where it is labeled a “cloister”),
thus establishing 1833 as a terminus ante quem. 18 [Fig. 8]
We know that by 1926 the annex functioned as a private
passageway into the church for members of the manor
house. A clause in the Shaw‑Stoke Poges agreement
permitted Shaw and his descendants to maintain the
privilege of accessing the church in this way. Yet, its original
function remains unclear. The mostly demolished Tudor
manor house presumably was disused from at least 1789
until 1911, when the remnants were incorporated into a new
structure by the architect William Howard Seth‑Smith. 19
This chronology suggests that the modest space was
not designed as a passageway for its residents. Instead
the proportions, scale, and overall design of the annex,
particularly the large size of the windows (about 1.8 m) in
relation to the height of the ceiling (about 2.8 m), strongly
support the possibility that it was designed and built
specifically to display the panels. It is easy to imagine
how they once might have dominated the space. With the
baseline of the fenestration only two feet above ground, the
viewer would have been able to admire and experience the
glass up close and almost at eye level.
The fenestration, ceiling vaulting, and castellated exterior
of the annex recall the aesthetic sensibilities of Jeffry
Wyatville, who was by the 1820s an enthusiastic practitioner
of the Gothic and Tudor‑Gothic styles. He was particularly
fond of details such as flattened ogee‑headed windows
and arches, prominent ribbed vaulting schemes, and
decorative crenellations, deploying them widely in the 1820s,
most notably at nearby Windsor Castle. While the shape
16
17
Stoke Poges 1896, 16.
Pevsner et al. 1993, 652.
The plan was made by W. Osborn and
inscribed to Hon. Rev. Sidney Godolphin
Osborne, who was appointed rector of Stoke
Poges in 1833. A framed version hangs in the
church, while a photocopy (PR 198/28/10) can
be found in the Centre for Buckinghamshire
Studies. The date of 1825 was first suggested
by Neil Jackson, who accompanied me and
Peter Martin to Stoke Poges on June 1, 2014.
18
In 1862 Sheahan indicated that what
remained of the Tudor manor had been
occupied up to that point by a gamekeeper.
Sheahan 1862, 871. It remains unclear who
commissioned the 1911 renovation.
19
Fig. 6 Interior of the Annex, Church of Saint Giles,
Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire
(Peter Martin 2014)
Fig. 7 Exterior of the Annex, Church of Saint Giles,
Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire
(Yao-Fen You 2014)
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of the annex windows at Stoke Poges brings to mind the
purpose‑made tracery lights he designed for the chapel at
Ashridge Park to showcase the Mariawald windows [Fig. 9],
the ceiling vaulting is very much in the manner of what he
was doing in the 1820s at Windsor Castle, where St. George’s
Hall, the Private Dining Room, and the Guard Chamber
are characterized by a flattened ogee‑headed ceiling with
prominent ribbing. 20 [Fig. 10] Whether or not Wyatville
was responsible for the design of the annex, one cannot
help but note that the preference for this distinctive feature
came at the expense of the objects’ integrity. The top edges
of the panels were clearly modified to accommodate the
windows’ ogee‑arched contours. The profiles of the panels
had again been made rectangular by the time of their sale
at Sotheby’s in 1929, presumably to make them more
salable. 21
Although there is no conclusive evidence, it is not
inconceivable that Wyatville not only had a hand in the
design of the annex, but played a part in bringing the glass
itself to Stoke Poges. As Peter Martin has emphasized,
Wyatville had a connection to the stained glass trade in his
close friend William Wilkins, an architect and collector of
stained glass. 22 Both are known to have supplied Rhenish
glass to their clients. The extent of the important roles
they played in the movement and circulation of glass in the
nineteenth century remains to be discovered, but recent
scholarship by Martin indicates that the forty‑five Mariawald
panels installed at Ashridge Park were acquired through
Fig. 8 Detail from Photocopy of Plan of
Church and Churchyard by W. Osborn,
inscribed to Hon. Rev. Sidney Godolphin,
1833. Stoke Poges Parish Records, PR
198/28/10, Centre for Buckinghamshire
Studies
(Yao-Fen You 2014, reproduced courtesy of
the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies)
Fig. 9 Jeffrey Wyatville, Plan for Ashridge
Chapel Window, 1815
(Peter Martin 2012)
See also figs. 145–147 in Linstrum 1972.
The Wyatville hypothesis was initially
suggested by Peter Martin and I am grateful
to him and to Neil Jackson for encouraging
me to pursue it.
20
See the illustrations of the windows in
Sotheby’s 1929.
21
22
Martin 2012, 129–142.
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Fig. 10 After Joseph Nash, “Guard
Chamber-Mast of Victory, with Bust of Lord
Nelson,” Views of the Interior and Exterior
of Windsor Castle by Joseph Nash, 1848
Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth II 2014
the initiative of the architect himself. If so, there is reason
to suspect that Wyatville provided both the glass and the
installation plan at Stoke. 23
The attribution of the church annex to Wyatville is all the
more persuasive considering his strong family connection to
Stoke Poges. In 1790, Edward Penn had engaged Wyatville’s
uncle, James Wyatt, to design Stoke Park, which remains
one of Wyatt’s most fully documented commissions. 24 The
commission eventually extended beyond the mansion to
include the monument to Thomas Gray, erected in 1799, and
the Vicarage, built 1802–4. Wyatt also designed Pennsylvania
Castle, Penn’s home on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, which
was completed in 1800.
An entrepreneur, Wyatville was in the habit of soliciting
business from his deceased uncle’s loyal clients, including,
very likely, John Penn, who survived Wyatt by twenty‑one
years and would not have been immune to his nephew’s
overtures. 25 A possible scenario is that Wyatville, while
at Windsor in the 1820s, took the opportunity to interest
Penn in some spare Rhenish windows from his inventory
and propose a purpose‑designed space for them at Stoke
Poges, only 11 km away. As Martin has observed of architects
23
Ibid., 251.
The long and fruitful collaboration between
Penn and Wyatt is documented in Fergusson
1977.
24
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working prior to 1834, “he was a contractor, a supplier not
only of design services but also of goods and antiquities.” 26
This theory would corroborate a date of 1825 for the annex.
Another clue that the annex was purpose built to house
the windows resides in the hitherto unpublished architectural
panels. [Fig. 5] Because these were not reproduced in the
1929 Sotheby’s catalogue, the light they shed on the panels’
origins has been overlooked. Originally placed in a rounded
arch opening on the east end that is now bricked over, they
comprise a patchwork of tracery components, presumably
from the canopies that once surmounted the glass. Judging
from the photographs, it is clear the architectural panels
are a nineteenth‑century invention in conception and form,
even if the constituent glass pieces appear original. Their
composite nature strongly suggests that all of the Stoke
Poges panels were salvaged and brought to England during
the antique and gothic revival. If they had been transferred
from the Tudor manor house that Penn was so eager to
demolish, one would expect them to be far more intact.
The glass generally is in a very good state of preservation
for its age, but it has undergone substantive repairs and
alterations in addition to the modifications along the top
edges. With the exception of Anthony Abbot, which is the
best preserved of the group, the panels contain extensively
replaced passages and parts recycled from what must have
been other panels in the series. The entire bottom third of
St. Barbara, for example, beginning with the lower edge of
the blue lining of her cloak is a stopgap taken from another,
presumably male, figure in the same series. 27 Indeed,
Westlake’s 1894 hand‑drawn illustrations of Adrian, Anthony,
and Wenceslas indicate that a majority of the replacement
pieces were already in place by the end of the nineteenth
century. Discrepancies in the iconographic program also
indicate the panels were part of a larger program or
programs. It seems highly unlikely, for example, that a series
of seven images of saints would include two representations
of the Virgin and Child. 28 Again, if the glass had originally
come from the Tudor manor, one would expect a more
resolved iconography and more panels to have survived.
Conclusion
Whether or not Wyatville played a role in bringing the
glass panels to Stoke Poges, their physical make‑up
and iconographic discrepancies, as well as their
nineteenth‑century installation, strongly suggest they were
victims of secularization. At the very minimum, we should
revise our assumption of a continuous record of ownership
from the time of their creation in the early decades of the
sixteenth century to the first published record of them
in 1847, and continue to investigate their provenance.
Further avenues of research include consulting early
nineteenth‑century German auction catalogs held in Cologne
and elsewhere, as well as the account books of J. C. Hampp
at the Fitzwilliam Museum. Following Martin’s suggestion,
one could also dig deeper into Wyatville’s dealings in
Rhenish stained glass, examining his connection to known
agents such as William Stevenson and Edward Curling. 29
A better understanding of the history of the restoration of
the panels prior to their sale at Sotheby’s in 1929, especially
when and where it was undertaken, would also be helpful
in localizing the works. Now that the six figural panels have
been reunited, the DIA plans to conduct non‑destructive
analysis in hopes of piecing together some of that crucial
restoration history.
In his diary entry for 18 September 1813,
Joseph Faringdon noted that on the death
of James Wyatt, his nephew “wrote 15
letters to different persons soliciting their
interest to get something that His uncle
enjoyed.” By 1814, Wyatville had inherited
the Ashridge Park contract from his uncle.
Linstrum 1974, 15.
25
26
Martin 2012, 129.
27
See restoration chart 26/a in Raguin et al.
2001, 210.
This was noted by Raguin. See Raguin et al.
2001, 202.
28
29
Martin 2012, 201–205.
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Acknowledgments
I wish to thank the following for their help with the research
for this article: Christine Brennan (Metropolitan Museum
of Art), Neil Jackson (University of Liverpool), Alexandra
Janvey (B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library, LIU Post),
Catherine Larkin (B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library, LIU
Post), Nigel Lowe (Stoke Poges Church), Peter Martin (KUB
Architekten AG), Stuart Pyrrh (Metropolitan Museum of Art),
and Tracey Schuster (Getty Research Institute). I would also
like to acknowledge the crucial assistance of my colleagues
in the Research Library & Archives and Photography, as well
as the support of my colleagues in the Curatorial Division.
Research travel to the Church of Saint Giles, Stoke Poges,
and the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury, was
made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Travel
and Research Fund. My final thanks go to Lisa Bessette for
reading and commenting on a draft of this article.
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